Tillman D. TAYLOR

October 19, 1866
July 25, 1920


End of Watch Sunday, July 25, 1920
TILLMAN D. "TIL" TAYLOR

Sheriff Tillman Taylor was shot and killed during a jail break from the Umatilla County Jail. Five suspects had obtained a gun that had been smuggled in to them and shot Sheriff Taylor with it during the escape. The five suspects were eventually apprehended. Two of them were sentenced to life, one was hung in December 1920 and the remaining two were hung in July 1922.

Sheriff Taylor had been with the agency for 18 years.

The death of Tillman D. Taylor, ex-sheriff of Umatilla county, occurred as the result of bullet wounds received on July 25, 1920, when he was shot by Emmett Bancroft, a bandit. He was a prominent and progressive citizen of Umatilla county and his death came as a severe blow to his many friends throughout the community.

Tillman D. Taylor was born near Silverton, Marion county, Oregon, on the 19th of September 1866, a son of David and Sarah Ann (Gerking) Taylor, further mention of whom is made on another page of this work. Sheriff Taylor's boyhood was spent on the old homestead, three miles west of Athena and he received his education in the schools of the county and later attended the A. P. Armstrong Business College of Portland. After completing his course in this college, he returned to Athena and accepted a clerkship in the Holter & Cleve dry goods store there. He then engaged with C. A. Barrett in the hardware business, in which connection he remained for a number of years, later selling his interest to Mr. Barrett and accepting a position with the Handford Hardware Company. In 1898 he was appointed to the position of deputy sheriff under William Blakley, and for four years he served in this capacity, then being elected sheriff, which latter office he was holding at the time he was shot. During the years in which he was sheriff he made it a point never to shoot a man. Bancroft, the bandit whose bullet snuffed out the life of Sheriff Taylor, had been. saved by the sheriff only a few days before, while being captured. At that time Bancroft fired at Sheriff Taylor and tried to kill him. A jail break was planned for Sunday morning, July 25, 1920, when Bancroft, with four others, attempted to escape. Sheriff Taylor was sitting in his office at the courthouse in Pendleton when the bullet came crashing through the window. Bancroft was executed in punishment for his crime, two others have been sentenced to be hung, while the other two are serving life sentences. In the activities of Umatilla county Sheriff Taylor has always taken an active part and he was one of the organizers of the Pendleton Round-up, and its president for eleven years. He was a fine horseman and sportsman and was always leader of the parades.

Mr. Taylor was twice married. In 1889 he wedded Miss Sadie Smith and her death occurred at Athena five years later. One son, Sheldon, was born to this union. In 1898 he was married to Miss Claire Moussu, a daughter of H. 0. Moussu. Mrs. Taylor is living and makes her home in Pendleton, where she has many friends.

In politics Mr. Taylor was a stanch supporter of the democratic party and was a firm believer in its principles as factors in good government. He was a thirty-second degree- Mason and a member of the Elks and the Woodmen of the World. Sheriff Taylor was a familiar and well beloved figure in the community and a void has been left which it will not be easy to fill. He was honorable and upright in every way and any town, county, or state would have been proud of him as a citizen.


From:
History of Oregon Illustrated
Vol. 3
BY: Charles H. Carney

Contributed on 9/14/20 by tomtodd
Email This Contributor

Suggest a Correction

Record #: 156208

Don't Follow