Taylor - Henry William
Source: Crawfordsville Star, Jan 9, 1879 p 1
The following paragraph appeared in the Mercury last Saturday in the midst of a mass of other uncalled for verbiage - all the manufacture of the medical gentleman whose name heads this article, otherwise nicknamed by poetic license, "Bill Little Pill."
Last week the senior editor of the Star accepted for publication, a personal explanation from myself as to the false and malicious statement which appeared in the Star some weeks ago, charging me with allowing stagnant water to stand in the cellar under my house, thereby bringing about the death of two of my children, who had malignant diphtheria.
Now we have promised there would be no more of this discussion, and we only republish the paragraph quoted to show in what a foolish position Dr. Taylor places himself by his own choosing. In the first place, the item to which the doctor takes exception appeared in the Star some 4 weeks ago and was as follows:
"A physician in Montgomery County recently suffered two of his children to die of diptheria while three feet of water stood in his cellar just because he was too lazy to pump it out."
Some weeks afterwards Dr. Taylor "had his attention called" to this item and immediately claimed the honor of being the unknown "lazy physician." The opportunity to advertise himself could not be lost. A stranger would recoil in amazement of hearing Dr. Taylor advocate such things as he sometimes does, but no person who knows the man is ever in th eleast astonished ta any of his freaks. We would much rather have dropped this theme long ago and only take it up again to let an educated reading community know that Dr. Taylor soberly and deliberately claims the HONOR of being a "lazy physician" and then characterizes the item in which he took offense as "false and malicious." Two weeks ago we suffered the martyrdom of publishing a communication from Dr. Taylor in which he made the assertion that "water in the cellar" of a house rather advantageous than otherwise, and we supposed that would be his last attempt in the buffoon line. The doctor seems to have taken charge of one column of an esteemed contemporary and will probably again act the "damphool" in his usual happy manner, but all the advertising he gets in The Star will be at regular advertising rates. Before parting with the pugnacious doctor, and with no desire to wave a red blanket in his face, we would request him to give the public an essay on the Physiological Absorption of the Placenta... transcribed by kbz (whew :)
Source: H. W. Beckwith, 1881 History of Montgomery County, Indiana (Chicago:
HH Hill) p 287
TAYLOR, H. W., MD., physician and surgeon, Crawfordsville, was b.in
Va, and settled in Crawfordsville in 1872. He has been one of the
leading physicians of this city and is a very prominent citizen,
both as a literary man and political man. He is a prominent literary
light in the state of Indiana, having made prose and poetical contributions
to the press. His prose articles have mostly been upon medical subjects
He is an eminent democrat and Mason.
