Taylor, Luke Wallbridge "Rusty"

TAYLOR

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 10/28/2016 at 14:20:53

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register
Jan. 13, 1944

"RUSTY" TAYLOR
MEETS DEATH
IN THE FLAMES
-------------------
Eccentric Recluse Was Fa-
tally Burned This
Morning

"Rusty" Taylor, eccentric recluse who has made his home for many years in a shack near the site of the old tile factory, was fatally burned about 6 o'clock this morning at the former McBlain greenhouse on East street, where he had been employed as a night watchman to keep the fires going.

The greenhouse had been damaged by fire a few days previously and being uneasy about it, Miss Martha McBlain had looked in on Taylor about 4 a.m., finding everything all right. It is presumed that Taylor fell asleep in his chair and that his oil soaked clothing caught fire.

With his clothing in flames he ran outside and neighbors saw him rolling over and over on the ground in an effort to extinguish them. T.M. Newton, who lives close by, heard his shouts and hurried to his assistance, but by the time he arrived there was nothing to be done.

Coroner W.B. Phillips of Montezuma conducted an investigation and pronounced death due to third degree burns over the entire body. No inquest will be held.

There was no fire damage to the greenhouse property.

Taylor was an eccentric character. A mechanic of exceptional ability, almost a genius along some lines, he rarely worked, preferring to live alone in his little shack with his pets, which included a tame badger, rats and snakes. At one time he worked for "Billy" Robinson in his aeroplane factory and he also worked for the Handyman in the repair shop where Ben's Tire Shop is now located. He was about 56 years old and was born in Canada. So far as officers can learn he leaves one brother, Fred Taylor, in Princeton, Ill., and a sister, Myrtle, last heard from in Winnipeg, Canada.

The authorities are now endeavoring to contact the relatives. No funeral plans have been made.

Mr. Taylor's full name was Luke Wallbridge Taylor, but everyone knew him as "Rusty."

NOTE: Buried in Hazelwood Cemetery, Section V; grave not marked.