Everett Taylor: Taylor's Yarns

With this column, the thread runs out on Taylor's Yarns, a weekly feature of the Sunday Tyler Paper for many years under that heading as this writer moves into the "retired" ranks after a 60-year news career, 57 in Tyler.

A big bundle of thanks is appropriate for many, many people who have helped in the accumulation of material to include in these reports; to countless others who have been column subjects and especially to those who have been readers, either part or full time.

It is fitting that James Wilkins came up with some material for the final edition because he has been helpful in furnishing and helping locate information a number of times. Bob Bowman also is another who has been the subject of or contributed to past columns, and whose byline often is seen on historical features.

Bob and Doris Bowman are former Tyler residents and he worked with the Tyler Paper while going to Tyler Junior College in years now well past.

There are many others who have furnished materials and/or have been column subjects, and all are extended our appreciation.

Also remembered with fondness are so many who were advisers, friends, associates and readers through the years who are no longer around to talk with or visit.

So the spool is almost empty, with just enough left to offer best wishes to all who have contributed in any way to this column, and one more sincere "Thank You" to that most important group -- the readers.

When Quantrill Raided East Texas

People who have heard or read about "Quantrill's Raiders," and even those who have not, might want to put a newly published book at the top of their "must read" list.

James Wilkins, a Tyler historian, for 30 years has researched the hanging of three men near Tyler in 1864 that involved William Clarke Quantrill's guerillas from Missouri and Kansas.

Four massive binders of material related to Quantrill's guerillas in Texas had been produced by 2007, and in December Wilkins joined with authors Bob and Doris Bowman of Lufkin to begin work on a book.

The book, "A Civil War Tragedy," now has become the third publication of The Bob and Doris Bowman East Texas History Series. Proceeds from book sales are committed to an endowment for the East Texas Historical Association to be used for future publications.

Formal introduction of the new book will be in September at the fall meeting of the East Texas Historical Association in Nacogdoches. Wilkins and Bob Bowman will give a program on the Tyler event of 1864.

In October, at the meeting of the Smith County Historical Society, James and Bob will present the monthly program. James' part of the program will be, "How Confederate Street Got Its Name." The Society meets on the first Tuesday of each month at the Carnegie History Center, 125 S. College, in Tyler.

Quantrill and his guerilla band camped during the winter of 1864 in northern East Texas as the Civil War was nearing its end.

"Ruthless and anxious for action, they lashed out at men they believed to be 'union men' sympathetic with the Union cause," a flyer on the new book relates.

In his research, James found that the victims of the Tyler hanging included the sheriff and the former chief justice of Collin County. As a result, hundreds of men were killed, property was burned or stolen and East Texans "lived in fear of the guerillas."

"When several Quantrill raiders were killed by Collin County Sheriff James L. Read and a posse near McKinney, Quantrill's men set out to exact revenge on Read, his cousin James M. McReynolds and Read's brother-in-law, Joseph Holcomb," according to the flyer. "A mob rode into Tyler and, when rebuffed by Confederate officials, they lynched the three men in the city on the road to Canton."

Woven into the book are stories about guerillas Jesse and Frank James, the Younger brothers, Belle Starr and famous outlaws from the 1860s.

James' extensive research makes this book an authentic historical work as well as a very readable and interesting presentation, including numerous photographs of many of the principals and historic locations.

Everett Taylor
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