The Glenwood post., 1908-04-18
TAYLOR TRIAL
PROGRESSING
From Saturdays Daily Post.

was the first witness for the pros
eeutiOn in the Taylor case and by
him District Attorney Gentry
proved the cause of Mrs. Taylor's
death. the condition of the body
and some facts concerning the
burial. DIR. Twining was health
officer of Pitkin county at the
time Of the burial and on account
of complaints made to him as to
Irregularities, decided to make an
examination of the body before
burial. He telephoned the under
taker to delay the burial until he
could make such examination, but
when he approached home of de-
fendant s sister, Mrs. johnson,
from which the funeral was held,
the hearse was leaving the house
with the body When he after
wards asked the undertaken why
he had not waited in compliance
with his suggestion, he was told
that Taylor insisted that he 60
ahead with the burial.
He told of eXhuming the body
and making an examination. He
testified as to powder marks or
stains at the root of the tongue
and said the soft palate had been
torn away by the shot, the bullet
entering the spinal cord almost
directly back from the mouth.
The gun by which Mrs Taylor
came to her death was produced
and DIR. Twining was asked to
state how far in the mouth the
gun was probably inserted when
the explosion occurred The doe
tor asked to have the weapon
sterilized and after this was done
he made personal demonstration
at the suggestion of the district
attorney. He described the bro
ken condition of the woman's
front teeth and gave it as his
opinion that the V-shaped break
in the teeth had been made by
something like the sight of the
sight of the gun catching on them
when being pulled out of the
mouth.
DIR. G. w. Judkins followed DR.
Twining and detailed the autopsy
ut which he assisted DIR. Twin
ing and DR.. Guthrie. He gave it
as his opinion that if the wound
had been self-inficted the direc-
tion of the bullet would have
been upward instead of almost d.
rectly backward, as they found
it. He also thought the teeth
were broken by the jerking OF
something ont Of the mouth and
not by the rebound of the gun.
DR.. Guthrie being out of the
state, it had been agreed by the
attorneys that his testimony at
the first trial should be accepted
at this hearing. This was identl-
fed by the official stenographer
and read by the attorneys to the
jury.
Thomas Mallor testified thai
once after an Elks' entertainment
in which Taylor took part, Tay-
lor in his own house, in speaking
of his wife said, 81 let one wo-
man get away from me alive, but
l will not allow another one. y
Some other statements by this
witness were stricken out on mo-
ton of defendant counsel.
J. w. Allen. who was supe.in-
tendent of the mines at Coal Ba-
WAS called. He lived near the
Taylors; heard the shot; went
out, and Taylor called to him.
He said to Taylor, "Johnnie.
how did this happenY'' Taylor
said his wife had been out target
shooting and had accidentally
killed herself. Taylor then asked
where the gun was, Witness said
he did not know and while look
ing around to see if he could see
it, Taylor stopped over the body
and apparently reached under
the body or under the skirt and
picked up the gun and said,
"Here it is. Taylor gave the gun
to the witness and he took out
the four remaining cartridges
and the one empty shell.
William Barber, carpenter,
was among the first to reach the
TAYLOR home after the tragedy.
He helped carry the body into
the house and put it on the bed;
He told Of how Taylor grasped
the body by the shoulders, shak-
ing it vigorously and saying
"May, why in hi don't you
wake upi' The testimony was
.:..:la. 4n that Of Mr. Allen on