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. 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.
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.
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.
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