The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, January 22, 1899
pg. 4

MURDER IN SHERMAN
A horrible murder was committed in Sherman Wednesday night, the victim, a woman, named Ira Taylor.  The woman's throat had been cut with a knife after which the body had been placed in the basement of the Baptist church.
The dead woman's head rested on the stone sill with the face turned upward.  One leg, the left, which was next the building, was bent under her, the right hand lay palm upward and clinched.  The other was doubled under the body. The bodiy of the dark red colored dress she wore was pulled loose and disarranged, exposing the corset.
On the floor of the basement there are a few small blood stains, where it had scattered when the body crashed through the window.
The dead woman is well known to the police of Denison, she having been arrested several times.  A negro named Rob Smith has been arrested, he was the last person seen in the company of the murdered woman so it is alleged.  The coat worn by Smith at the time of his arrest had a great many blood spots upon it.  Each sleeve has several of them.  They are on the collar and on the back and on the inside of the coat lappels.  He had on a pair of new suspenders and there is a blood spot upon them.


The Houston Post
Houston Texas
January 26, 1899
pg.9

MURDER OF IRA TAYLOR
Coroner's Verdict Charges Negro Rob Smith With It.

Sherman, Texas, January 25. - "I, C. A. Barker, justice of the peace for precinct No. 1 of Grayson County, Texas, sitting as a court of inquiry upon the dead body of Arria (Ira) Taylor, having examined into the manner, place, cause and circumstances of her death, do find as follows: That said Arria (Ira) Taylor came to her death in the city of Sherman, Grayson county, Texas, on the night o January 18, 1899. between the hours of 10 p.m. of said night and 9 a.m. on the 19th of January, by knife cuts in the throat; and I further find from the evidence that said wounds which produced the death of the said Arrie (Ira) Taylor were inflicted with malice aforethought by one Rob Smith with intent then and there to murder and kill the said Arria (Ira) Taylor. Given under my hand this, the 25th day of January, 1899.
C. A. Barker, Justice of the Peace."

The above is the coroner's verdict in the death of a white woman, Ira Taylor, the discovery of whose horrible and mysterious murder just one block from the public square and the finding of her mutilated remains in the rear basement window of the Second Baptist Church last Thursday morning, threw the city into consternation.  The whole of the last six days have been consumed by Justice Barker's court in obtaining and hearing evidence in the case."
Relative to a possible indictment against the negro, Rob Smith, County Attorney Haye said: "The grand jury before which the matter will come will not be convened until April next, and the very earliest time at which Smith, if indicted, can be called to trial will be in June."



The Houston Post
Houston, Texas
June 7, 1899 Wednesday
pg 6

A QUESTION OF PREJUDICE

Negro Charged with Murder Raises a New Point

Sherman, Texas, June 6. - Rob Smith, the negro now in jail charged by indictment with the murder of the white woman, Arrie Taylor, today began the fight for his life.  Through his attorneys he has prepared to file a motion to quash the indictment against him. The document alleges race prejudice and sets forth at great length that no negroes were on the grand jury, which was a discrimination against his race in general and him in particular. It further alleges that before said jury was convened defendant was, on account of prejudice existing among the white race of Grayson county,  spirited away at night to Dallas for safekeeping and that he was not present and thereby deprived of the right to challenge any or all of said grand jurors before being sworn and empaneled, who might acknowledge that they were so prejudiced, and also presents general and special charges of prejudice against the officials.



The Houston Post
Houston, Texas
June 11, 1899 Sunday
pg 6

QUESTION OF RACE PREJUDICE

Point is Raised in Trial of a Negro for Murder

Sherman, Texas, June 10. - In the district court today the motion of Rob Smith, the negro charged by indictment with the killing of Mrs. Arrie Taylor (white) to quash indictment was argued. As heretofore stated in The Post, the motion set up pleas, special and general, of race prejudice. The substance of the State's rebuttal was: First, because the applicant now here alleges that his rights were in any way prejudiced because of the white commissioners or white jury; he does not state he
is innocent and that a grand jury of negroes would have failed to indict him. He was arrested before the jury commissioner
or grand jury were selected and never requested the appointment of negroes on either until long after the indictment was returned. Second, the State especially excepts to all that portion of the motion to quash which refers to action of the court in appointment of the commission, the action of the commission in selecting the grand jury or action of the grand jury in returning the indictment because it no where sufficiently shows that they or any of them were actuated by malice or prejudice against the defendant or his race and closed with a general and special denial of all the allegations of the defendant applicant.
Quite a number of witnesses, both white and colored, were examined and none gave evidence conclusive that any race prejudice existed bearing on defendant. The court's decision will probably be rendered Monday.



The Houston Post
Houston, Texas
June 20, 1899 Tuesday
pg 9

MOTION OVERRULED
Indictment Not Quashed Because of Race Prejudice
Sherman, Texas June. 19, - The motion of Rob Smith, colored, charged by indictment with the murder of Mrs. Arrie Taylor, white, to quash indictment was to-day heard in the district court and motion overruled. The allegations in defendant's
petition were sensational, in that they alleged race prejudice as cause sufficient for the quashing of said indictment, and further arraigned officials on the same grounds. A special venue of 200 men have been summoned and the case of the
State against defendant for the murder will likely be called to-morrow morning. The case is attracting much interest.



The Houston Post
Houston, Texas
June 21, 1899 Wednesday
pg 8

Trial of Rob Smith
Sherman, Texas, June 20, - In the case of the State vs Rob Smith, the negro who is on trial charged with the murder of Mrs. Arrie Taylor, a white woman, last January, the court overruled defendant's two petitions asking respectively for a change
of venue and a continuance of the case. In the last issue defense became somewhat sensational by accusing two other
men, white, of the murder. The work of selecting the jury is now in progress, only four having been accepted.



The Houston Post
Houston, Texas
June 24, 1899 Saturday
pg 3

Trial of Smith Progressing
Sherman, Texas, June 23, - The taking of evidence still proceeds in the case of Rob Smith, charged with the murder of Mrs. Arrie Taylor last January, though nothing new has developed today.



The Houston Post
Houston, Texas
June 27, 1899 Tuesday
pg 5

The Smith Murder Trial
Sherman, Texas, June 26, - The State having rested its case Saturday in the trial of Rob Smith, the defense has been introducing testimony today, and endeavored to prove that the knife found near the scene of the murder was not the property of defendant, and that he had no blood stains on his clothing until after his return from a hunt Thursday morning.



The Houston Post
Houston, Texas
June 29, 1899 Thursday
pg 5

Jury Has the Smith Case

Sherman, Texas, June 28. - Argument was completed and the jury charged at 3:45 this afternoon in the case of Rob Smith.
At a late hour tonight the jury is still out.



The Eagle
Bryan, Texas
November 9, 1899 Thursday
pg 9

Twelve Prisoners Escape
Denison, Texas., Nov. 2 - Twelve prisoners escaped last night at the smallpox detention camp near Sherman, where the prisoners were confined in a steel cage. Among them were four men charged with murder and one of them, Bob Sims (sic),
a negro, under death sentence for the murder of Arrie Taylor in Sherman, was in the party of prisoners to escape but returned to the Sherman jail and gave himself up, but the others escaped.



Dallas Morning News
January 5, 1900

Rob Smith's Case
Sherman, Tex., Jan 4 - The transcript in the case of Rob Smith, colored, in whose case a petit jury has assessed the penalty of death for the murder of Mrs. Arria Taylor in this city in January, 1899, has been sent to the Clerk of the Court of Criminal Appeals in session at Dallas.



Sherman Daily Register
Wednesday, October 3, 1900
pg. 4

ROB SMITH REINDICTED
For the Murder of Arria Taylor in This Cit y
The Gra yson county grand jury today returned a bill of indictment against Rob Smith (col.), charging him with the murder of Mrs. Arria Taylor in this city on the night of January 7, 1899.
The warrant was read to him in jail, w here he has been held upon complaint since the court of appeals set aside the first verdict.