by bourbonv » Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:26 am
Working on cataloging an unpublished biography of Taylor today. A newspaper article clipped to the pages tells of a businessman traveling to Beattyville, Ky. in 1904. He visits the County Clerk sees a pile of wooden boxes in the corner labeled Old Taylor, T P Ripy etc... He inquires as to what they are and the County Clerk replies those are their ballet boxes. About that time the sheriff walks in and states that he purchased those to replace their old tin boxes. There are seven boxes - one for each district and they even call the districts "Old Taylor", T. P. Ripy, Old McBrayer, etc... He then states it was the best move he ever made - the boxes go out filled with bourbon and come back filled with ballets.
"In Kentucky, politics is the damnedest" as they say in the poem. Still, I would vote for that guy as sheriff anyday.
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873