Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-10-23
NIGHT RIDERS Kill
SOUTHERN LAWYERS
COL. TAYLOR AND CAPT. RANKIN
MURDERED NEAR WALNUT
LOG, TENNESSEE.
ARE HUNG FROM TREES;
BODIES THEN RiDDLED

Awful Murder Takes Place lmmedl.
ateIy Following the Attorneys Ac-
tivity in Matters in Which the Ma
tives Were Interested.
Union City, Tenn. Oct 21.-Col.
R. 2. Taylor aged SO years, and Capt.
Quinten Rankin, both prominent at
torneys of Trenton, Tenn, were taken
from Wards hotel at Walnut Log.
Tenn. Is miles from here, Tuesday
by masked night riders and murdered.
Capt Rankin's body was found rid
died with bullets and hanging from a
tree one mile from the hotel.
Sheriff Eastwood Of Obion county
and posse Of armed men left Union
City for the scene of the murder.
These men are determined to arrest
those guilty of the crime.
The trouble which resulted in the
death Of Capt Rankin and the prob
able murder of Col. Taylor was caused
! by the passage of an act by the legis-
lature regulating fishing in Reelfoot
lake, short distance from Walnut
Log.
Often Were Threatened.
Night-rider disturbances over the
same matter occurred about a year
ago. Ever since then Col Taylor and
Capt. Rankin have been in constant
receipt of threatening letters, to
which they paid little heed.
Mr.. Ward, the manager of the Ward
hotel at Walnut Log, telephoned
Sid Waddell, a stockholder in the
West Tennessee Land Company
stating that about 25 masked
night riders came to his hotel
at midnight. According to this re
port the night riders lined up outside
the hotel pulled out their revolvers
and called Col. Taylor and Capt Ran
s kin. The two men did not suspect
trouble and came down Immediately
As the attorneys passed into the front
yard of the hotel the night riders GOV
cred them with their revolvers. Be
fore Capt. Rankin and Col Taylor had
an opportunity to retire they were
surrounded and seized They were
put on horses behind night riders and
carefully guarded.
Start for Isolated Lake.
The night riders then quietly took
up their march from the hotel, turn
ing down the road toward Reelfoot
lake. Guests at the hotel in few
minutes lost the sound of crunchine
hoof-beats and nothing more was
learned of the fate of Capt. Rankin
and Col. Taylor until the bodies were
found.
Proceeding to the edge of Reelfoot
lake the night riders pulled out 8
rope, with which they had provided
themselves, and placed the moose
about Capt. Rankin's neck Examina
ton of the scene of the murder failed
to reveal evidence of any struggle
Capt. Rankin was strung up from 8
limb on the bank of the lake, for the
fishing privileges of which he had con
tended with the night riders The
masked men then stepped back anl
opened fire on the swinging body, rid
ding it with bullets.
Saw Murder Of Partner.
Col Taylor was evidently alive a
this time and witnessed the murder o
his law partner.
Leaving the corpse of Capt. Rankir
hanging on the bank of Reelfoot Lake
the night riders took Col. Taylor tt
another spot.
Numbers of the residents in tha
neighborhood have made their living
for some time by fishing in the lake
and they became indignant when VIVA
they claimed as their rights" wer'
disturbed. They made demands of tn
land company and these were followe,
by threats.
Col. Taylor desired the protection
In some form, of the state, and b,
secured the passage In the legislator,
of an act regulating fishing in Reelfoo
lake. This act made it a misdemeanol
to fish in the lake without paying {
heavy fee. This only served to more
thoroughly arouse the fishermen.