ALABAMA HERITAGE
  • Magazine
    • Current and Back Issues >
      • Back Issues 141-150 >
        • Issue 147, Winter 2023
        • Issue 146, Fall 2022
        • Issue 145, Summer 2022
        • Issue 144, Spring 2022
        • Issue 143, Winter 2022
        • Issue 142, Fall 2021
        • Issue 141, Summer 2021
      • Back Issues 131-140 >
        • Issue 140, Spring 2021
        • Issue 139, Winter 2021
        • Issue 138, Fall 2020
        • Issue 137, Summer 2020
        • Issue 136, Spring 2020
        • Issue 135, Winter 2020
        • Issue 134, Fall 2019
        • Issue 133, Summer 2019
        • Issue 132 Spring 2019
        • Issue 131, Winter 2019
      • Back Issues 121-130 >
        • Issue 130, Fall 2018
        • Issue 129, Summer 2018
        • Issue 128, Spring 2018
        • Issue 127, Winter 2018
        • Issue 126, Fall 2017
        • Issue 125 Summer 2017
        • Issue 124, Spring 2017
        • Issue 123, Winter 2017
        • Issue 122, Fall 2016
        • Issue 121, Summer 2016
      • Back Issues 111-120 >
        • Issue 120, Spring 2016
        • Issue 119, Winter 2016
        • Issue 118, Fall 2015
        • Issue 117, Summer 2015
        • Issue 116, Spring 2015
        • Issue 115, Winter 2015
        • Issue 114, Fall 2014
        • Issue 113, Summer 2014
        • Issue 112, Spring 2014
        • Issue 111, Winter 2014
      • Back Issues 101-110 >
        • Issue 110, Fall 2013
        • Issue 109, Summer 2013
        • Issue 108, Spring 2013
        • Issue 107, Winter 2013
        • Issue 106, Fall 2012
        • Issue 105, Summer 2012
        • Issue 104, Spring 2012
        • Issue 103, Winter 2012
        • Issue 102, Fall 2011
        • Issue 101, Summer 2011
      • Back Issues 91-100 >
        • Issue 100, Spring 2011
        • Issue 99, Winter 2011
        • Issue 98, Fall 2010
        • Issue 97, Summer 2010
        • Issue 96, Spring 2010
        • Issue 95, Winter 2010
        • Issue 94, Fall 2009
        • Issue 93, Summer 2009
        • Issue 92, Spring 2009
        • Issue 91, Winter 2009
      • Back Issues 81-90 >
        • Issue 90, Fall 2008
        • Issue 89, Summer 2008
        • Issue 88, Spring 2008
        • Issue 87, Winter 2008
        • Issue 86, Fall 2007
        • Issue 85, Summer 2007
        • Issue 84, Spring 2007
        • Issue 83, Winter 2007
        • Issue 82, Fall 2006
        • Issue 81, Summer 2006
      • Back Issues 71-80 >
        • Issue 80, Spring 2006
        • Issue 79, Winter 2006
        • Issue 78, Fall 2005
        • Issue 77, Summer 2005
        • Issue 76, Spring 2005
        • Issue 75, Winter 2005
        • Issue 74, Fall 2004
        • Issue 73, Summer 2004
        • Issue 72, Spring 2004
        • Issue 71, Winter 2004
      • Back Issues 61-70 >
        • Issue 70, Fall 2003
        • Issue 69, Summer 2003
        • Issue 68, Spring 2003
        • Issue 67, Winter 2003
        • Issue 66, Fall 2002
        • Issue 65, Summer 2002
        • Issue 64, Spring 2002
        • Issue 63, Winter 2002
        • Issue 62, Fall 2001
        • Issue 61, Summer 2001
      • Back Issues 51-60 >
        • Issue 60, Spring 2001
        • Issue 59, Winter 2001
        • Issue 58, Fall 2000
        • Issue 57, Summer 2000
        • Issue 56, Spring 2000
        • Issue 55, Winter 2000
        • Issue 54, Fall 1999
        • Issue 53, Summer 1999
        • Issue 52, Spring 1999
        • Issue 51, Winter 1999
      • Back Issues 41-50 >
        • Issue 50, Fall 1998
        • Issue 49, Summer 1998
        • Issue 48, Spring 1998
        • Issue 47, Winter 1998
        • Issue 46, Fall 1997
        • Issue 45, Summer 1997
        • Issue 44, Spring 1997
        • Issue 43, Winter 1997
        • Issue 42, Fall 1996
        • Issue 41, Summer 1996
      • Back Issues 31-40 >
        • Issue 40, Spring 1996
        • Issue 39, Winter 1996
        • Issue 38, Fall 1995
        • Issue 37, Summer 1995
        • Issue 36, Spring 1995
        • Issue 35, Winter 1995
        • Issue 34, Fall 1994
        • Issue 33, Summer 1994
        • Issue 32, Spring 1994
        • Issue 31, Winter 1994
      • Back Issues 21-30 >
        • Issue 30, Fall 1993
        • Issue 29, Summer 1993
        • Issue 28, Spring 1993
        • Issue 27, Winter 1993
        • Issue 26, Fall 1992
        • Issue 25, Summer 1992
        • Issue 24, Spring 1992
        • Issue 23, Winter 1992
        • Issue 22, Fall 1991
        • Issue 21, Summer 1991
      • Back Issues 11-20 >
        • Issue 20, Spring 1991
        • Issue 19, Winter 1991
        • Issue 18, Fall 1990
        • Issue 17, Summer 1990
        • Issue 16, Spring 1990
        • Issue 15, Winter 1990
        • Issue 14, Fall 1989
        • Issue 13, Summer 1989
        • Issue 12, Spring 1989
        • Issue 11, Winter 1989
      • Back Issues 1-10 >
        • Issue 10, Fall 1988
        • Issue 9, Summer 1988
        • Issue 8, Spring 1988
        • Issue 7, Winter 1988
        • Issue 6, Fall 1987
        • Issue 5, Summer 1987
        • Issue 4, Spring 1987
        • Issue 3, Winter 1987
        • Issue 2, Fall 1986
        • Issue 1, Summer 1986
    • Digital Features
    • Links of Interest
    • Bonus Materials >
      • Adventures in Genealogy
      • Alabama Heritage Blog
      • Alabama Territory
      • Becoming Alabama >
        • Creek War Era
        • Civil War Era
        • Civil Rights Movement
      • From the Vault
      • History in Ruins
      • Places in Peril
      • Recipes
  • Online Store
    • Customer Service
  • About Us
    • Awards
    • Meet Our Team
    • News
    • Writer's Guidelines and Submissions
  • Search
  • Donate
Published by The University of Alabama,
The University of Alabama at Birmingham,
and the Alabama Department of Archives and History

The Murder of Faye New

11/5/2017

 
Birmingham Faye New murder
Faye New's murder fascinated the Birmingham public. Local newspapers dedicated their front pages to the search for her body and to Taylor's trial. Insets, left to right, are of Faye New, Ashley Cain, and Harold Taylor. (Photos by The Birmingham Age-Herald, 1934; courtesy the Birmingham News)
On a warm evening in August 1934, Faye New, a coed at Birmingham’s Howard College, now Samford University, and her friend, Bessie Reaves, were driving along First Avenue when a tire on Reave’s car was punctured. Searching for help, New walked to a nearby filling station. There she met a young man named Harold Taylor and, later in the evening, agreed to take a ride alone with him. When New did not return home that night, her mother and Reaves drove to Taylor’s house to question him. He explained that he had not seen New since she left his car the night before, and they notified the authorities. Within hours, several hundred Boy Scouts, law enforcement officials, and volunteers began combing the area where she had been seen last. Their search ended the next afternoon when the nineteen-year-old was discovered with her throat slit in a clay ditch at the edge of an isolated cornfield outside the city. Although the family had found its daughter, the search for clues to her murder was just beginning. 
The year Faye New was killed was tumultuous for the "Magic City." President Franklin D. Roosevelt had declared Birmingham the city in the nation worst hit by the Great Depression. Violent strikes in the mine fields of the region had turned the mining camps into war zones, and bombs frequently rent the night air. Birmingham's citizens feared that lawlessness was winning against the local law enforcement agencies. The brutal murder of Faye New--a smart girl who sang in the glee club and swam with the athletics team--fed into that fear. The fact that a young white girl could not walk securely down one of Birmingham’s busiest thoroughfares made people wonder if anyone was safe in the city.

What actually happened on the night of New's murder remains murky. Harold Taylor was visiting his friend, Ed Gaylord, at his gas station, the Woodlawn Oil Company, which had closed for the night. When New came in seeking help, Taylor offered to drive her and Gaylord to the car to pick up the punctured tire. After the trio took the tire to a twenty-four-hour Sinclair station, he returned Gaylord to his business. He and New returned to the car. Reaves, who was waiting there, had been joined by her brother-in-law, Ashley Cain, a young man who fancied himself to be Faye New's boyfriend. New, however, decided to go for a drive with Taylor, a handsome twenty-eight-year-old with a reputation for wild living. Cain, jealous at the perceived snub, impulsively jumped into his car and followed them as they pulled away. Later, he would maintain that he eventually lost sight of Taylor's car. 
What actually happened on the night of New's murder remains murky.
​In the days following New's murder, suspicion focused on two people: Taylor and Cain. New's parents publicly supported Cain's allegation that he and their daughter were in a serious romantic relationship. When New was buried at the Methodist-Episcopal graveyard in Heflin on August 23, Cain, who served as a pallbearer, rode with New's family on the train. He waved to the crowds of people gathered on platforms as the train passed through each town. After the funeral, he spoke to reporters, "Me? Kill Faye New? The thought is preposterous. I, who loved her, who worshipped the very ground on which she trod!" Taylor soon became the primary suspect in New's murder. The Taylors were a prominent Birmingham family, and Harold's father, Marvin, was a state auditor who had served as a city comptroller. The elder Taylor admitted his son enjoyed the occasional drink but insisted he had no history of violence.
 
Taylor himself maintained his innocence. At trial, he told the court from the witness stand, "I had been driving with my arm around Faye. Once or twice, she had reached over and kissed me." After they parked on an isolated road around midnight, he tried to "get rough" with the young girl. New pushed him away and jumped from the car. "I realized I had done the wrong thing, and started talking fast and urging her to stay in the car," he said. New ignored his efforts and ran from him. "The last time I saw her she was near the brow of the hill and seemed to be going near the top," he said.
 
In September 1934, the trial of the so-called "Wolf of Woodlawn" received front-page coverage in local newspapers. Articles profiled mothers and friends of both the victim and the defendant, and public sympathy was clearly divided. "Choosing at random, life could present no sadder picture," Birmingham News reporter Dolly Dalrymple wrote of the defendant and victim's mothers. Despite the attention received by the families, the principal players in the media coverage were the lawyers: flamboyant defense attorney Morel Montgomery and prominent criminal attorney Roderick Beddow, who had been retained by the New family as a special prosecutor.
In September 1934, the trial of the so-called "Wolf of Woodlawn" received front-page coverage in local newspapers. Articles profiled mothers and friends of both the victim and the defendant, and public sympathy was clearly divided.
The trial for New's murder held local residents spellbound, although the case against Taylor was hindered by the absence of either a confession or definitive evidence. Thousands waited outside each day to enter Judge Russell McElroy's courtroom, where Montgomery defended Taylor by casting doubts on Cain. Montgomery accused Cain, who lived with Reaves and her husband, of collaborating with Reaves to hide New's murder. Montgomery claimed that someone saw Reaves using bleach to scrub the floor of her front porch early in the morning after the murder. It was also con- firmed that Cain took a bundle of clothes to the dry cleaner before he was questioned. Furthermore, the only knife found before the trial belonged to Cain. Reddish stains on the knife could not be identified.
 
In his closing arguments, Beddow, who called the murder a "lust killing," tried to highlight the things he knew Taylor had done wrong. In arguing that Taylor should receive the death penalty, Beddow stressed Taylor's callousness in letting the girl out "near some Negro houses," where she would be vulnerable to a race attack. Despite the testimony of Clara Cost, a woman who claimed that Taylor had also tried to attack her during an evening drive, he was found "not guilty" by the all-male jury, who spent fifteen hours in deliberation.
 
On September 9, the day Taylor's verdict was announced, Birmingham's citizens waited anxiously for news from the courtroom. To feed widespread interest in the case, the Birmingham Age-Herald printed nineteen thousand extra copies. The next day, the Age-Herald reported the reactions of Taylor's mother, New's parents, and Cain, all absent from the courtroom when the verdict was read. While Taylor's mother wept rears of joy, New's parents were inconsolable. Cain, who was at work, said, "Since Taylor has been acquitted now, I guess a lot of people will think me guilty, but I have told the truth from the beginning."
 
Soon after Taylor's acquittal, a former law enforcement official turned in a knife that he believed was the weapon in New's murder. Investigators offered little optimism that the instrument was of any value, but they vowed to follow up on all new leads. Faye New's murder, which had captivated Birmingham for two months, faded from the pages of the newspapers and the minds of the public. The identity of her killer, whether it was Taylor, Cain, or some other unnamed face, was never determined. 

This feature was previously published in Issue 86, Fall 20017.

Author

Pamela Jones is a freelance writer and researcher based in Birmingham. her particular areas of interest in Alabama history are true crime and the state between the two world wars. She is a history instructor at a Birmingham college and writes corporate histories. 

Subscribe to Alabama Heritage

Comments are closed.

    From the Vault

    Read complete classic articles and departments featured in Alabama Heritage magazine in the past 35 years of publishing. You'll find in-depth features along with quirky and fun departments that cover the people, places, and events that make our state great!

    Read More From the Vault

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    August 2022
    June 2022
    February 2022
    June 2021
    May 2021
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    April 2015
    July 2014
    April 2014
    October 2013
    October 2012
    July 2012
    October 2009

    Categories

    All
    African Americans
    Agriculture
    Alabama
    Archeaology
    Architecture
    Avondale
    Avondale Zoo
    Birmingham
    Business
    Cathedral Caverns
    Civil War
    Constitution
    Cuba
    Episcopal Church
    Food
    Guntersville
    Hollywood
    Hunting
    Murder
    Mystery
    National Guard
    Native American
    Nursing
    Photography
    Poarch Creek Indians
    Politics
    Preservation
    Quilts
    Religion
    Revolutionary War
    Sand Mountain
    Whiskey
    Women
    WWI
    WWII

    RSS Feed

Online Store
​Customer Service
Meet Our Team
Board of Directors
Corporate Sponsors
News
Join Our Email List

Employment
UA Disclaimer
UA Privacy Policy ​
​Website comments or questions?  

Email ah.online@ua.edu
Published by The University of Alabama, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History
​Alabama Heritage
Box 870342
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Local: (205) 348-7467
Toll-Free: (877) 925-2323
Fax: (205) 348-7473

alabama.heritage@ua.edu