Obituaries: Isaac William Taylor, 1939, Winn Parish, LA
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************


 



From: January 27, 1939 Winnfield News-American

Skeleton of Man Found By Three Loggers

Tentatively Identified As Isaac William Taylor By Papers Found Near Body

Discovered by Three Men While Searching for Land Lines Wednesday Morning.

No Indication of Violence

The skeleton of a white man, tentatively identified as that of Isaac William
Taylor, found Wednesday morning in the woods near here is now being held by
the Walsh Funeral Home awaiting instructions from relatives in Atlanta, Ga.,
and California.

Sheriff Bryant Sholars stated on Thursday that he expected some communication
from a niece in Atlanta, Georgia or the dead man's sister in California
anytime.  A wire from the sheriff in Atlanta, Georgia stated that the niece
had been located and that the sister in California was being wired the
information.

Found By Timbermen

The skeleton was found Wednesday morning by T. B. Plunkett, Dave Allen, and J.
W. Carter, while they were searching for land lines in the area bout a quarter
of a mile off the Winnfield-Natchitoches highway three miles from here.  The
man apparently had been dead about a month and the investigation conducted by
Dr. J. F. Faith, parish coroner, revealed that the man died from exposure as
there were no indications of violence anywhere about the body.  Only the bones
and small parts of flesh in shoes were left.  A bundle of personal effects
were found near the body and which had been untouched, while his pup tent that
he had showed no evidence of ever having been spread.

Rabbits Foot Found

In the bundle of papers, by which the man was identified, there was a rabbits
foot, which appeared to have been in his possession for a considerable time. 
A check up of the papers showed that he had $ 399 in a Shreveport bank, that
he drew interest from bonds or deposits in the Federal Land Bank in St. Louis
and that apparently he owned land in the vicinity of St. Louis.

A photograph found in the possessions showed a gravestone marked with the name
Thomas M. Taylor, Atlanta, Ga., and giving the dates of 1844 and 1917.

A nurse at a hospital in Shreveport recalled that Taylor was at the hospital
in September, 1938, with a badly swollen right arm, the results of infection
from a snake bite on a finger.  She said the man was given treatment and snake
serum but refused to stay in the hospital.  She believed the infection proved
fatal.

Believed To Be World War Veteran

Other papers on his person and in the bundle found indicated that the man was
a World War veteran, and it is believed by Sheriff Sholars that he was a
victim of shell shock during the war.

The remains will be held for several days awaiting information from relatives.