The Desperate Plea of a Starving Squatter

Lying on a cot in a cell in the county jail, with a bullet hole through his right hand and his face and body filled with birdshot, Bob Taylor, the man who shot W. Barnes and wounded Sheriff Denholm and Richard Holland, was interviewed by a Times reporter. In a weak, trembling voice, Taylor claimed he was born in Indiana and had worked as a farmhand across the country. He said he came to Puyallup last winter and, having no money, moved into a log house on the reservation that appeared to have been unoccupied for a long time. Taylor claimed he lived on potatoes and salt, was half-starved, and that the men came to his cabin trying to force their way in. He said he fired in self-defense, believing the men were there to harm him. When Sheriff Denholm and his party later attempted to arrest him, Taylor said, 'I was afraid of them. When they began to break down the door, one of the men shot through a crack and the bullet went through the hand that was holding my pistol. The pain made me crazy and then I shot through the door and hit the stout man. I wouldn't have shot him if I had known he was the sheriff.'