Staunton Spectator

The alleged murderers of Woodford Taylor—a slave man, a free negro man, and Mrs. Taylor, the wife of the murdered man—were brought before the County Court of Louisa, on Monday last. The wife of Taylor was discharged, as there was no legal evidence against her; the free negro was sent on to the Circuit Court, and the case of the slave was postponed until September Court. The body of the deceased, when examined at the Coroner's inquest, exhibited several gashes upon the shoulders, evidently inflicted with an axe, and the skull was fractured in one place. The statements of the accused, when arrested, were conflicting. The wife at first accused one of her neighbors, a highly respectable gentleman, but at a subsequent examination retracted the accusation and denied any knowledge of the parties guilty of the crime. The negroes assert that the white woman did the deed, and that they happened accidentally to be present. Taylor was a dissipated man, and the impression prevails that the deceased was in a drunken frolic, and most probably caused the difficulty which resulted in his death.—Charlottesville Advocate.