William S. Taylor

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William Sylvester Taylor (October 10, 1853 – August 2, 1928) was the thirty-third Governor of Kentucky. He was initially declared the winner of the disputed gubernatorial election of 1900, but the Kentucky General Assembly reversed the election results, giving the victory to William Goebel. Taylor served only 50 days as governor.

A poorly educated but politically astute lawyer, Taylor began climbing the political ladder by holding local offices in his native Butler County. A Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic state, divisions in the majority party saw him elected Attorney General of Kentucky on a ticket with the Commonwealth's first Republican governor, William O. Bradley. Four years later, he succeeded Bradley in the state house.

When the General Assembly challenged the election, incensed Republicans descended on Frankfort, and Taylor's Democratic opponent, William Goebel, was assassinated. Nevertheless, he was sworn in on his deathbed, and Taylor exhausted his finances in a legal battle with Goebel's running mate J. C. W. Beckham over the governorship. Taylor ultimately lost the battle, and was implicated in Goebel's assassination. He fled to neighboring Indiana, and despite eventually being pardoned for any wrongdoing, seldom returned to Kentucky. Taylor died in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1928.

[edit] Early life

William Taylor was born October 10, 1853 in Butler County, Kentucky, the first child of Sylvester and Mary G. (Moore) Taylor. He spent his early years working on the family farm, and did not attend school until age fifteen; thereafter, he attended the public schools of Butler County and studied at home. In 1874, he began teaching, specializing in mathematics, history, and politics.^[1] He taught until 1882, and later became a successful attorney, but continued to operate a farm.^[2]

On February 10, 1878, Taylor married Sara ("Sallie") Belle Tanner. The couple had nine children, including six daughters and a son that survived infancy.^[2]

[edit] Political career

Taylor's political career began in 1878 with an unsuccessful bid to become county clerk of Butler County. In 1880, he was an assistant presidential elector for Greenback candidate James Weaver. Two years later, he was elected county clerk of Butler County.^[1]

Taylor became a member of the Republican Party in 1884, and was elected county judge of Butler County in 1886, serving until 1894. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1888. In 1896, he was elected Attorney General of Kentucky, and served until 1899.^[3]

The election of William O. Bradley in 1895 marked the first time in Kentucky's history that the Commonwealth had elected a Republican governor. Angry Democrats, who had controlled the state house since the fall of the Whig Party, sought to regain what they had lost, but bitter divisions in the party led to a contentious nominating convention that saw William Goebel chosen as the Democratic nominee. A faction of the Democratic Party held a second nominating convention and chose former governor John Y. Brown as their nominee.^[4]

The Republicans were initially no less divided than the Democrats. Senator William J. Deboe backed Taylor for governor, but Governor Bradley backed another candidate, and the Republicans of Central Kentucky backed a third. However, the divisions in the Democratic party made it apparent to Republicans that they had a good chance of retaining the state house, and they united behind Taylor, nominating him unanimously at their convention in 1899.^[5]

The campaign was contentious. Taylor's opponents attacked him because of his party's support from black voters and its ties to big business, including the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. They also charged that Governor Bradley had run a corrupt administration. Republicans answered with charges of factionalism and use of political machinery by Democrats. Taylor was elected, but secured just 2,383 more votes than Goebel. He was inaugurated on December 12, 1899, but the Democrat-controlled General Assembly challenged the election results. The three-man Board of Elections, created by a law Goebel had supported, certified Taylor's victory by a surprising 2–1 vote.^[6]

Armed men came to Frankfort from various areas of the state, primarily eastern Kentucky, which was heavily Republican. On January 30, Goebel was shot while entering the state capitol building. The imbroglio led to Taylor declaring a state of emergency, calling out the militia, and calling a special session of the legislature not in the state capital, but in heavily Republican London, Kentucky. Democrats refused to heed the call, and met in Democratic Louisville instead. They claimed the power to decide disputed elections. Forming a partisan commission (ten Democrats and one Republican) to examine the election, they eventually disqualified enough Taylor votes for Goebel to be declared the winner. Shortly after being sworn in as governor, Goebel died from the gunshot wound he received days earlier.^[7]

With Goebel, the most controversial figure in the election, dead, Democrats and Republicans put the election in the hands of the courts. A circuit court upheld the General Assembly's actions, as did the Kentucky Court of Appeals and the Kentucky Supreme Court.^[6] The Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear the case, and Goebel's lieutenant governor, J. C. W. Beckham, ascended to the governorship. During his short term as governor, Taylor had done little beyond making a few appointments and issuing a few pardons.

[edit] Later life

Taylor was indicted as an accessory in the assassination of Governor Goebel. He fled to Indianapolis, where the governor refused to extradite him. At least one attempt to abduct him by force failed in 1901. Despite being pardoned in 1909 by Republican Governor Augustus E. Willson, he seldom returned to Kentucky.^[8]

Financially strapped by the costs of challenging the election, he became an insurance executive and practiced law. Shortly after arriving in Indiana, his wife died. In 1912, he briefly returned to Kentucky to marry Nora A. Myers. The couple returned to Indianapolis and had a son together. Governor Taylor died of heart disease on August 2, 1928, and was buried at the Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.^[8]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Battle; Perrin, & Kniffin (1885). Kentucky: A History of the State, 2nd edition. Retrieved on 2007-09-12. 
• Harrison, Lowell H. (1992). "Taylor, William Sylvester", in Kleber, John E.: The Kentucky Encyclopedia, Associate editors: Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter, Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813117720. 
• Kentucky Governor William Sylvester Taylor. National Governors Association. Retrieved on 2007-09-12.
• Klotter, James C. (2004). "William Sylvester Taylor", in Lowell Hayes Harrison: Kentucky's Governors. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813123267. 
• Powell, Robert A. (1976). Kentucky Governors. Danville, Kentucky: Bluegrass Printing Company. ISBN B0006CPOVM. 

[edit] See also

• History of Kentucky

[edit] External links

• Find-A-Grave biography

v • d • e Governors of Kentucky Shelby • Garrard • Greenup • Scott • Shelby • Madison • Slaughter • Adair • Desha • Metcalfe • J. Breathitt • J. Morehead • Clark • Wickliffe • Letcher • Owsley • Crittenden • Helm • Powell • C. Morehead • Magoffin • Robinson • Bramlette • Helm • Stevenson • Leslie • McCreary • Blackburn • Knott • Buckner • Brown • Bradley • Taylor • Goebel • Beckham • Willson • McCreary • Stanley • Black • Morrow • Fields • Sampson • Laffoon • Chandler • Johnson • Willis • Clements • Wetherby • Chandler • Combs • E. Breathitt • Nunn • Ford • Carroll • Brown Jr. • Collins • Wilkinson • Jones • Patton • Fletcher • Beshear Kentucky also had two Confederate Governors: George W. Johnson and Richard Hawes.