With a face a descendant is ready to love, Henry Bowler’s photograph prompted a search that added a “peculiar” and remarkable personality to his preserved pose.
Zacharias Taylor was hanged 9 April 1890 at the Greene County Courthouse in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, for the murder of William McCausland. Zach was the second man hanged for murder in the county’s history. The first was his brother-in-law and accomplice.
The caption on the photograph read, “Car in which Simon Wesley Rinehart was killed.” It was clearly going to be a research path that would lead to tragedy. Moved by this haunting image, what follows is a glimpse into the events of late 1912.