This story was originally written for the Mahanoy Area Historical Society.
Second part of a series of two
Robert W. Taylor was found guilty of poisoning the wife of his former Mahanoy City narcogist. He was sentenced to seven years in solitary confinement in Schuylkill County Prison.
After being convicted of burglary nine years ago, he had escaped Berks County Prison. He was 36 years old when he was released. He was freed in March.
“WALLS STAND NOT IN WAY OF BOB TAYLOR’S ESCAPE,” The Pottsville Daily Republican headline read.
The newspaper described Taylor as an “expert pharmacist and ingenious convict.”
Taylor used an iron bar that he had taken from his kitchen or washhouse to dig a hole into the cell wall. Taylor used a 23-foot rope made of bedding and an iron hook to climb over the prison wall. Taylor was captured by the night watchman who saw him climbing up to the 20-foot wall. The prison wall was able to find his golden spectacles.
News of Taylor’s escape drew crowds at the prison eager to see Cell No. 12. The hole in Taylor’s cell was 20 inches long, 9 inches deep and 14 inches wide. Warden Edwin K. Barto suspects Taylor had assistance.
Taylor was the most dangerous and desperate inmate in Schuylkill County. Taylor said to Barto, shortly before his escape attempt, that he would murder him if necessary.
He was also accused of poisoning his wife, Elsie Myers, 14 years old, and she survived. Both she and her mother drank the same glass of poisoned water from the drugstore. Taylor had been hired by Myers in late 1899 to manage her deceased husband’s drug store. They were married in September 1900.
Taylor described himself as having a ruddy skin, brownish hair and blue eyes.
Taylor was also caught in Reading, in a coal train locomotive caboose. He had boarded in Port Clinton. A flagman recognized him, and telegraphed Reading. When the train arrived, officers were still waiting.
Taylor wore a red bandana around his head and above his left eye. From his fall from the prison wall, Taylor was unable to walk one foot.
A total wreck, he was returned to the Schuylkill County Prison in the early hours of March 21st. He was seen by more than 1,000 people at the Pottsville station. Another crowd was present at the prison. Taylor was hurt when he got off of the train with Chief Hiram.
“On a pallet of straw, in a dark corner of Cell No. 17, lies the emaciated form of Robert W. Taylor, the linguist, scholar and savant,” The Pottsville Daily Republican wrote.
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Taylor was believed to have helped a prisoner escape, which was why he was sentenced for a longer time than he did. However, he was not arrested.
On April 1, 1901, the court granted Mary Myers’ divorce, allowing her to testify against Taylor in Elsie’s death. However, District Attorney Michael P. McLoughlin wouldn’t say if Taylor would be indicted for Elsie’s murder. According to the newspaper, there is no time limit and authorities are careful not to get into legal pitfalls. The prosecuting attorney stated that it was unlikely that a murder indictment would be filed against the grand jury by May 24.
Taylor never faced trial in Elsie’s death. The Miners Journal reported, in 1906, that Taylor was accused of poisoning Elsie. But the indictment was dropped later. There were no news articles that explained the circumstances of this incident. It’s likely the experts’ refusal to swear the girl died from poisoning was a factor.
Taylor pleaded guilty in his last Schuylkill County public appearance to jailbreaking. He was sentenced to one year and nine more months. Taylor was sentenced to his final term at the Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia on May 10, 1901.
On Oct. 4, 1906, the Eastern State Penitentiary prepared to release Taylor early because of his “good behavior.” The date of his release was not reported.
Taylor wrote almost five columns in a letter to The Pottsville Daily Republican, on November 16.
Taylor claimed again his innocence. He made a reference to himself in third person and raised suspicions about Mary Myers, Taylor’s ex-wife. He wrote that he did not find it plausible that “two sane people would drink alternately out of the same glass, several ounces of tepid gallish water, not for medicinal purposes but as a cooling beverage.
“Would anyone marry for love or money and inside of ten days want a divorce, or would anyone, with sufficient matter in their cranium to keep a firefly going, awaken his victim and send thrice for a doctor if his motive was homicide?”
“In conclusion, I reiterate the assertion of the victim, Taylor’s innocence and that this toxic potion was intended for his riddance.”
Taylor was then charged with selling liquor in Shippensburg without a license a few months later. Taylor was working in a pharmacy he had bought with the intent to open a business.
Each case saw him being held on $500 bail. Taylor ran from the constable who was taking him to a temporary jail cell. He fled on a team with stolen horses.
Three days later, a large fire broke out at the Farmers and Drovers Hotel Stables in Carlisle. Four horses escaped, and a hunting dog was killed. Taylor had taken the stolen horses to the stable several days earlier. According to police, Taylor may have fled to the second story to hide. He could have lit a match to make it down the steps and fall in the hay. Or he might have deliberately set the fire.
Taylor fled on one of the horses, which probably had been overcome with smoke and wasn’t making much progress. Taylor was suspected to have cut its throat.
Taylor was taken into custody by police at 5:15 p.m. on March 5. He was located on a Carlisle street. Taylor had a revolver with cartridges, two knives and a razor. He was also charged with arson and larceny. He was also charged with selling liquor without a licence, resisting an officer, and larceny at Shippensburg
Taylor was found guilty of the crime on May 15. Taylor was sentenced to 18-years in Eastern State Penitentiary, and another year in Cumberland County Jail.
A lawyer for Taylor’s sister, Salina Taylor Mitchell, asked the court in May 1907 for a commission of lunacy. In the petition, Taylor claimed that he was insane after sustaining a serious head injury as a child, which impairs his eyesight.
“He exhibits evidence of mental derangement shown in delusions of persecution; a delusion that he is being poisoned; that his best friends are conspiring to injure him; that he has periods of excitement; becomes entirely irrational; has no recollection of recent events; lacks sufficient will power to control powerful impulses to move him to commit irrational acts, and that the recent offenses are the result of insane impulses.” The petition stated the welfare of Taylor and others required his restraint.
The application was dismissed by the court on June 7, 1907. According to The Pottsville Daily Republican Taylor was transferred from Eastern State Penitentiary into the State Insane Asylum in Norristown shortly thereafter. The reason for the move was not explained in any articles.
Taylor, who was in Norristown asylum on Aug. 28, 1910, escaped but was arrested within an hour. Taylor would attempt again.
About 6 a.m. Dec. 26, when the iron bars of the asylum’s windows were cold, he hit them with a chain, snapping the iron. He crawled through the window opening, hanging on the windowsill and fell 25 feet to his freedom.
January 12, 1911 Reading Times reported that Taylor was captured in Washington, D.C. and that an attendant was sent to take him back. The Pottsville Daily Republican’s April 19 article that year said that Taylor was still at large and disappeared before he could go to custody.
We don’t know where Robert Taylor lived or died after his final escape. The family home on North Ninth Street in Reading, known as the “house of mystery” and the “spook house” because of Taylor’s notoriety, was demolished in 1921. It had been neglected over two decades.
“Bob Taylor formerly lived there,” The Reading Times said in 1911. “He was an exceedingly bright lad and came from an excellent family. He was a bad person. Through his shortcomings, his family stood by him to the end.”
Mary Myers, age 72, died in Mahanoy City in 1927. She was buried together with her first husband, Elsie, in Myerstown. Myers’ drug store eventually became Timm’s Pharmacy, which still stands today at 22 W. Centre St., the current CJ’s Dog House eatery.
Taylor’s mother’s obituary in 1912 didn’t list Robert as a survivor. But his brother John’s death notice in 1918 — if accurate — may hold a clue to how long Robert lived. The notice in the July edition of the Typographical Journal, the printer’s trade publication, states his entire family, consisting of his widow, two daughters, one son and a brother, attended the interment in Colorado Springs, Colorado. John Taylor Jr., who died May 21, 1918, in Iowa, only had one brother — Robert.
For Elsie Myers, young Elsie Myers we won’t know for certain if her stepfather poisoned.
Terry Rang, the former editor-in chief of The Morning Call, wrote this article in support of the Mahanoy Area Historical Society. The society’s historian, Paul Coombe, provided research. Visit www. mahanoyhistory.org Find out more about the story and society.
Newspapers and other sources were used in this reporting, including The Pottsville Daily Republican and The Evening Herald, The Miners Journal and The Reading Times. Other sources include the U.S. Census as well as other public records.
