Grayson County TXGenWeb

Samuel Taylor "Sam" Atkins

TAYLOR ADKINS DIES FROM FRACTURED SKULL
Taylor Adkins [sic], young farmer living near Howe, died in St. Vincent's Sanitarium in Sherman Thursday morning.
He was brought here last Saturday suffering from a fractured skull, said to have been sustained when he was struck over the head with a piece of timber earlier in the day.
Ollie O'Neal, also living near Howe, who has been in jail since Adkins sustained the injuries, was still in jail Thursday.
Adkins is 23 years old.
The Sherman Democrat
May 1927

MURDER CHARGE FILED AGAINST OLLIE O'NEAL
Ollie O'Neal, farmer, living near Howe, is charged with murder in a complaint filed in Justice of the Peace, W.M. Blalock's court Thursday afternoon by Sheriff L.B. Shipp.
The charge is made in connection with the death Thursday morning of Taylor Adkins [sic], alleged to have been fatally hurt when struck by O'Neal with a piece of timber during an altercation which took place last Saturday at Howe.
No date has been set for an examining trial for O'Neal.

Sam was born in Celina, Clay County, Tennessee on March 23, 1904. He was born with the surname "Atkinson", but the "son" was dropped when the family moved to Texas. He lived in Celina with his 8 brothers and sisters who made the long trek to the state of Texas, arriving on Texas soil September 11, 1919 at the age of 15. The family resided in Tom Bean for 2 years, then moved to Anna, Collin Co., Texas in 1926. Sam lost his older brother, James Bedford Atkins, a World War I veteran, to tuberculosis in 1926.

Events Leading to the Death of Sam Atkins
Ollie O'Neal was a young man from the Howe area of Grayson County; he worked and lived around Sam. The O'Neal and Atkins families shared a barn they both worked out of in pretense to the farming they did. A fight over a spring wagon seat occurred about 10 miles west of Howe on the Patti farm on May 14, 1927 and resulted in the death of Sam Taylor Atkins. Sam's younger brother, Hoot, aka George Ethel Taylor, had removed the wagon seat from O'Neal's wagon. This led to a physical fight involving Ollie O'Neal and Sam. A newspaper article detailing the event stated that Sam had a pocket knife and possibly was advancing on the elder O'Neal when Ollie O'Neal struck Sam once; whereupon Sam, in a fight of self-preservation, turned to leave the scene when Ollie O'Neal delivered the fatal blow with a piece of wood that resulted in a critical and fatal injury for Sam. Witnesses to the fight between Sam and Ollie were Sam'l brother, Hoot, his father, Elisha (also known as E.J.) and a man by the name of Jim Madden. Conflicting testimonies occurred concerning the pocket knife Sam was supposedly using to protect himself. Sam's father stated that he found a knife belonging to his son buried two-thirds of the way into the ground. Others testified that Sam did not have a knife. It is a probable conclusion to suggest that Sam might have been stuck on the back of his head by Ollie O'Neal as he was turning to run.
Sam was taken to St. Vincent's Sanitarium in Sherman where he died on May 19, 1927, under the care of Dr. James Wolfe. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Van Alstyne Cemetery with other family members. Murder charges were filed against Ollie O'Neal after Sam's death.

Family legend is shown from the Atkins' Family Bible:

The account above erroneously states that Sam was killed in 1925 as well as his birth year being 1903. The Family Bible does match word for word the account of what happened between George Atkins and Melzie Douglas just a year earlier.