GEORGE TAYLOR CAUGHT
HELP MURDER THE MEEKS FAMILY IN MISSOURI.

Escaped from Jail While Under Sentence to Hang - Crime One of the Most Brutal in the History of the State.
Meeks Murderer Caught.

George Taylor, wanted in Carroll County, Missouri, for the murder of Gus Meeks' family is believed to be under arrest at Hanford, California. He was identified by B.F. Lane, a witness against him on his trial in Missouri. Taylor refuses to talk.

The murder of the Meeks was one of the most atrocious crimes ever committed in Missouri. On the morning of May 11, 1894, the people of Browning, Linn County, were startled by the discovery of the bodies of Gus Meeks, his wife and two small children in a straw stack in George E. Taylor's corn field four miles southeast of that place. Nellie Meeks, aged 8 years, who had been struck on the head and left for dead recovered consciousness early in the morning and she told the story of the crime. George Taylor and his-brother, W.P. Taylor, fled and did not return until after their capture by Jerry South of Buffalo City, Arkansas, two months later.

The brothers on trial were convicted of the crime and sentenced to be hanged on April 30, 1896. They were confined in Carrolltown, Missouri, jail and on April 11, 1896, made their escape along with another man charged with the crime of murder. Bill Taylor was soon retaken and at 10:58 on the morning of April 30 was hanged in the jail yard at Carrolltown. The Taylor brothers were wealthy at the time of the Meeks slaughter, and among other interests they conducted a bank at Browning.