Sutton–Taylor feud

Events

On April 23, 1866, William P. "Buck" Taylor shot a black reconstruction soldier, Sgt. John O'Brien, at a dance. That same month, John Hays Taylor killed another black soldier, Sgt. Josiah Ripley, in an Indianola saloon. On November 14, 1867, Hays Taylor, P.G. Taylor, and a man named Spencer killed Maj. John A. Thompson and Sgt. John A. McDougall of the US 4th Cavalry Regiment in Mason County, Texas.

Deputy Sutton shot and killed a Taylor kinsman, Charley Taylor, while attempting to arrest him for horse theft on March 25, 1868. Nine months later, on Christmas Eve, Deputy Sutton killed Buck Taylor and an associate, Richard Chisholm, in a Clinton saloon after an argument about the legality of a horse sale; these killings ignited the feud. On June 5, 1869, Capt. Jack Helm assisted Capt. C.S. Bell in attempting to arrest Taylor family members, and Helm helped capture Jim Bell.

The feud begins

During this operation, Goliad County Sheriff Andrew Jackson Jacobs was killed by the Peaces brothers, who were Taylor allies. On August 23, 1869, the Sutton faction ambushed John Hays Taylor and P.G. Taylor, killing Hays after he wounded five of the Suttons; P.G. Taylor was wounded but escaped, and survived another ambush the following month. In July 1870, Sutton was appointed to the Texas State Police Force under Captain Helm, a force known for often returning with wanted suspects dead.

On August 26, 1870, the Suttons were allegedly sent to arrest brothers Henry and William Kelly on a reportedly trivial charge; the brothers were related by marriage to Creed Taylor's brother, Pitkin. During the attempted arrests, the Kellys were killed, and Helm was dismissed from the State Police Force but legally cleared. In summer 1872, Sutton supporters gunned down Pitkin Taylor outside his home; his son James Creed "Jim" Taylor took over as family head and vowed revenge, twice attempting to kill Sutton without success.

The feuding resumes

On December 30, 1873, a Taylor supporter, Wiley W. Pridgen, was shot and killed at Thomaston station. The feud reached its apex on March 11, 1874, when Jim Taylor, his cousin William Riley "Billy" Taylor, and several others ambushed and killed William E. Sutton and his companion Gabriel Slaughter while they waited on a steamboat platform in Indianola, Texas; Sutton had grown tired of the feud and planned to leave. John Wesley Hardin admitted in his biography that he and his brother Joseph were also involved in the murders.

In retaliation, the Sutton faction lynched three Taylor group members—Rufus P. "Scrap" Taylor, John Alfred "Kute" Tuggle, and James White—in Clinton, Texas, on June 22, 1874. On June 1, 1874, two of Hardin's relatives, his cousin Alexander "Ham" Anderson and Anderson's brother-in-law Alexander Henry Barekman, were killed by a Texas Ranger Company, ostensibly in retaliation for their involvement in Sutton's killing but more likely because of Hardin's recent killing of ex-Texas Ranger and deputy sheriff Charles Webb on May 26, 1874.

Fighting continued with less frequency; Jim Taylor, a Mr. Hendricks, and another man were killed by the Suttons near Clinton, Texas, on January 1, 1875. Hardin's autobiography mentioned Brown only twice, and it is not known if Hardin was involved in Brown's death. Billy Taylor was tried twice and acquitted, and reportedly was killed in Oklahoma around 1895.

Did You Know?

• The feud has been called the longest and bloodiest in Texas history.
• William Sutton moved to DeWitt County when his mother married a man named William McDonald.