William S. Taylor

Who was William S. Taylor?

William Sylvester Taylor was the 33rd Governor of Kentucky. He was initially declared the winner of the disputed gubernatorial election of 1899, but the Kentucky General Assembly reversed the election results, giving the victory to his opponent, William Goebel. Taylor served only 50 days as governor.

A poorly educated but politically astute lawyer, Taylor began climbing the political ladder by holding local offices in his native Butler County. Though he was a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic state, divisions in the majority party resulted in his election as Attorney General of Kentucky on a ticket with the Commonwealth's first Republican governor, William O. Bradley. Four years later, he succeeded Bradley in the state house.

When the General Assembly reversed the election results, incensed Republicans armed themselves and descended on Frankfort, and Taylor's Democratic opponent, William Goebel, was assassinated. Nevertheless, Goebel was sworn in on his deathbed, and Taylor exhausted his finances in a legal battle with Goebel's running mate J. C. W. Beckham over the governorship. Taylor ultimately lost the battle, and was implicated in Goebel's assassination.