Memorial to Richard H. Taylor
End of Watch: December 13, 1946
Rank: Officer, Badge No. 825
Age: 47
Years of Service: 22
Location of Death: 924 17th St, NW
Duty Assignment: 3rd Precinct
Circumstance:
Officer Taylor and other officers were chasing a 14 year-old boy who was armed with a German Luger. The boy darted from behind a parked auto and shot Officer Taylor in the liver. The boy was apprehended after a failed suicide attempt.
Biography
Officer Taylor was married and had three children
Articles from the Washington Post – transcribed by Dave Richardson, MPD/Ret.THE 1946 SHOOTING DEATH OF OFFICER RICHARD H. TAYLOR BY A 14-YEAR-OLD BOY.
WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE DATED DECEMBER 15, 1946, PAGE M1
Young Slayer of Policeman Remains Calm
Boy, 14, Under Guard At Gallinger, Faces Inquest Tomorrow
The 14-year-old slayer of a Washington policeman remained under guard and calm at Gallinger’s Hospital yesterday—survivor of a fusillade of police shots and his own attempt at suicide.
His scalp creased by a self-inflicted bullet fired from the murder weapon as pursuing police bore down on him, the youth, Townsend Annes, 4923 North Capitol St, will face a coroner’s inquest at 11:30 a.m. Monday.
An hour later, Funeral services will be held for his victim, 47-year-old Pvt. Richard Taylor, 22-year police force veteran, of 627 Morris pl. NE. Services will be held at the Hines funeral home, 2901 14th St. NW., at 12:30 p.m., with a full honor guard of fellow officers.
Honor Guard Planned.
The honor guard will accompany the body to Summerduck, Va., for services at the Baptist Church there. Burial will be in nearby Mount Holly Cemetery.
Policeman Taylor, father of three children, died of a punctured liver and hemorrhage 45 minutes after he was shot when he joined a police chase for a boy in front of 924 17th St. NW.—a flower shop.
Taylor was the third Washington policeman to die in line of duty this year, but is the first shot to death since May 8, 1943, when Pvt. Charles R. Johnson was killed by Monroe D. Neely. Johnson’s killer was executed this year.
Annes, motherless grade school pupil at Calvert school, had been chased off an auto parking lot near the flower shop and was attempting to elude the officer when Taylor entered the chase.
Police said the boy, carrying a German Luger pistol, which he admitted stealing, and a high-powered air pistol, darted from between two parked cars and fired point-blank at Taylor.
The boy then ran across Farragut Square and was overtaken a block and a half away on I St., west of 17th St. NW., where he fired three shots at pursuing Detective Sergts. G.W. Chapman and F.L. Gaver.
As Chapman leaped from the police car, Annes fired at him three times and missed. Chapman fired twice and missed. Then Annes turned the gun on himself.
When Pvt. William C. Groomes, who had started the chase, appeared on the scene, Annes attempted to fire the empty gun at him, police said.
Other Boy Exonerated.
When the chase began an 11-year-old boy was with the Annes youth. He was apprehended but exonerated of any blame. He will be used as a material witness, however.
The slain officer’s family was almost prostrated with grief in their 6-room brick home yesterday. The three children are Mrs. Catherine Malloy, 20, of 511 3rd St. NW.; Ramona, 18, an Eastern High School junior, and Richard, Jr, 14, a pupil at Madison School.
A spontaneous fund for the family mounted rapidly yesterday at Policeman Taylor’s Third Precinct Station, and by nightfall the gifts had totaled more than $200. Mrs. Taylor is an employe of Kann’s Department Store. “We have been living,” she said, “off the work we do.” The family bank account was described as “small.”
Private Taylor also leaves his mother, Mrs. Julia Taylor of Summerduck, Va.; two brothers, Samuel S. Taylor of Washington, Herman H. Taylor of Pine View, Va., and three sisters, Mrs. Lee Ball of Summerduck, Mrs. Emma Jacobs of Morrisville, Va., and Mrs. Bessie Willingham of Remington, Va.
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WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE DATED DECEMBER 19, 1946, PAGE 9.
Police Group Proposes Relief For Men Killed in Line of Duty
The Policeman’s Association of the District last night proposed legislation which would authorize the payment of $5000 to the widow of any District fireman or policeman killed in the line of duty.
This action followed by several hours the announcement by Maj. Harvey G. Callihan, police superintendent, that the department will collect a fund for the family of Police Pvt. Richard H. Taylor who was shot to death by 14-year-old Townsend Annes Friday night.
Callihan said the pattern used in collecting funds for the families of Pvt. Donald W. Downs and Detective Harry Hamilton, also killed in line of duty this year, will be followed with Inspector Clement P. Cox, chief clerk of the Police Department, as treasurer of the fund.
At a meeting last night, the Policeman’s Association instructed its legislative committee to draft a bill for presentation to the next Congress authorizing the District Commissioners to pay $5000 to the widow when the policeman or fireman has died in the performance of his duty.
A motion for such action was submitted to the meeting by Inspector Milton D. Smith, past president of the association.
In recent weeks representatives of the Board of Trade have conferred with Callihan in an attempt to work out a plan which would establish a permanent fund for such emergencies.
Although other precincts and bureaus will begin collections for the widow and three children of the slain policeman today, it was reported yesterday that No. 3 Precinct, to which Taylor was attached, has already collected $600 for the fund.
The Post has already received a $10 donation for the Taylor family. This and other donations received by The Post will be turned over to the police fund.
In connection with the latest police death, Callihan said police salaries are not high, but urged members of the force to make every effort to carry at least a moderate amount of insurance to protect their dependents.
The youthful slayer of the policeman has been turned over to the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court and is now undergoing a psychiatric examination at Gallinger’s Hospital. Results of the examination will not be known for two or three weeks.
The East Gate Lions Club has voted a $100 gift to Mrs. Richard Taylor, the widow of Private Taylor.
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WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE DATED MAY 28, 1947, PAGE 3
ESCAPE FEARED
Townsend Annes, the 14-year-old boy who shot and killed a District policeman last December, has been moved to a federal correctional institution at Englewood, Col., The Post learned yesterday.
The boy was transferred from the National Training School for Boys on Bladensburg rd. n.e., about a week ago.
School authorities, it was learned, feared the chances that Annes would attempt an escape from the unwalled institution were too great. James V. Bennett, director of Federal prisons, confirmed that Annes had been shifted to the correctional institution which is near Denver and said it is one which offers “greater security” and is for “younger men.”
IQ Above Average.
Annes was committed to the National Training School last January 25 by Juvenile Court Judge Fay Bentley.
He underwent the usual psychiatric, medical and educational examination given all new boys. Usually a newcomer is assigned to a cottage after about three weeks.
Tests given Annes showed him to have an IQ of 118, which is above average. Other tests, however, made officials doubt that the boy could be fully trusted if assigned to a cottage where chances of escape would be easier.
Annes, who had been involved in several minor scrapes before that time, shot and fatally wounded Police Pvt. Richard H. Taylor, 47, father of three children, last December 13 in the 900 block of 17th St., NW.
The boy, whose father and two brothers live at 4923 N. Capitol St., had been chased from a nearby parking lot by another policeman.
Stole Gun From Soldier.
Annes was carrying a loaded German Luger which police said later he had taken from the pocket of a soldier sleeping on a streetcar. He shot Taylor in the chest when the policeman appeared in his path.
Before the boy was captured, he fired three wild shots at pursuing detectives and turned the gun on himself, inflicting a scalp wound.
Because of his age, Annes could be tried only in Juvenile Court, and Juvenile Court was empowered to commit only until the age of 21.
Largely because of the publicity which attended this light punishment for a murder, Congress recently passed, and President Truman signed a bill which permits Juvenile Court here to transfer jurisdiction in such cases to District Court where the punishment can be extreme as the death sentence.