From the mid-1870s until World War I, Taylor County, along with several other counties, were locked in a major dispute over the payment of railroad taxes. As a result, Taylor County lacked an elected sheriff for some 30 or more years, because the potential officer holders feared that they would be held responsible for collecting these taxes, which the taxpayers refused to pay. (In fact, at one point, an appointed tax collector committed suicide over it, leaving his estate responsible for the debt, at which point, enough money was collected to at least allow her to preserve the estate.) It was thought that the issue was resolved in 1913 in Taylor County, and a new Sheriff, T.E. Richeson was appointed. However, he resigned in August and the tax which was to be collected to satisfy the old debt was again questioned.
When a County lacks a Sheriff, for any reason, an Acting Sheriff, also known as an Elisor, must be appointed. In Taylor County, in 1914, the Coroner, Lyle Mathews was appointed to serve as Elisor in addition to his Coroner duties. (Although there are multiple spellings of his name, including substituting Leslie, Lisle and Kyle, for Lyle in some documents, as well as reversing his names, making him George Lyle, the above is the spelling on his death certificate and will be preferred.)
On February 6, 1914, barely a month into his term, Coroner Mathews, acting as the Taylor County Sheriff, went to the home of … to serve a foreclosure eviction. He was accompanied by his Deputy Coroner, Charles Hayes, the Jailer, John Peterson, a man named Garfield Disney, and three other man. They went to the home on Cleves (also called Clevis) and William Murray, on Meadow Creek. The two men were occupying a house that had been ordered to be sold to satisfy an estate debt. The large contingent was due to the fact that the Murrays had threatened to kill anyone who attempted to put them out of the home. Matthews engaged in a parley with William Murray, assuring him he would not be harmed if he surrendered. His sister came to the door and told Matthews, “You better go on off. You know Bill is not responsible for what he does, and he says he will kill you.” Before the men could take further action, Murray came to the door with a shotgun and fired upon the men outside. The spread from the shotgun blast was enough that Matthews had 95 pellets between his waist and his chin, taking the blast full in the torso. He barely had time to exclaim that he’d been shot and was dying before he succumbed to his wound. Deputy Sheriff Hayes was also struck. Jailer Peterson immediately fired back, and at least one buckshot hit Murray’s sister. Only two shots were apparently fired.
All of the Murrays, William and Clevis, along with two sisters, Victoria and Eliza and another brother, Samuel, were taken into custody. On February 11, William Murray stood for his examining trial, now called a preliminary hearing, and Judge Hendrickson’s court was standing room only. Spectators were seated on the chairs, benches and windowsills. However, it was noted that William Murray was recently released from the asylum and was would likely be considered non compos mentis, or insane, and not responsible for his actions. Victoria was released, as there was no evidence she was involved in the killing at all. There is nothing further in the news about the trial, and it seems reasonable to assume that Murray was found incompetent to stand trial and the rest of those accused
According to his death certificate he died by means of a gunshot wound inflicted by homicidal intent. As was not uncommon at the time, the Coroner’s occupation was listed as Painter, as the law enforcement positions were considered occasional or part time, and was paid as such. He was interred in Brookside Cemetery, in Campbellsville. He left behind a widow, Pinkie Brody Hazzard Mathews, two sons, Lewis and Albert, and a daughter Bessie Pauline Gassaway, who had married and was living near Indianapolis, Indiana at the time of her father’s murder. Following Mathew’s murder, the entire family relocated to the Indianapolis area, and the records indicate all, eventually died and were buried in that area as well.
The next Elisor, Tom Turner, resigned the position in 1918 when he was elected Coroner. He declined to serve in that position, either, and was soon thereafter killed in a shootout with a citizen which whom he had a dispute. (The other individual died as well.) At some point, the endless litigation over the railroad tax came to a final resolution, with the taxpayers of the county paying pennies on the dollar to settle the bond indebtedness, and by 1925 at the latest, Taylor County again had a Sheriff.
Coroner Lyle Mathews is not on the National Law Enforcement Memorial.
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