Dispatch, December 25, 1888

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Moral -- MurderTourists and sportsmen -- Other recreation - Fraternal ordersMoral -- Other violent crimeInfrastructure -- Commercial - NewspapersInfrastructure -- Public - Government : Life-saving serviceInfrastructure -- Public - Government : Customs serviceWeather -- Freezes

Onancock, December 22, 1888..

William Taylor, a young farmer living near Mappsville, in the upper part of Accomack, died very suddenly some days ago. He was a very robust man, and had been in his usual health up to the time of his death. He had recently become a member of the Knights of Honor, in which organization he had a life-insurance policy of $2,000 for the benefit of his wife and an only child. The circumstances surrounding his death were so peculiar that many of his neighbors suspected that he has been poisoned. Accordingly his remains were disinterred yesterday, and the coroner's jury sent the stomach of the deceased to Baltimore to be analyzed in order to find out whether or not his death resulted from poisoning. Should this suspicion be verified the case promises to be one of the most interesting and startling in the criminal annals of the country.

A three-year-old daughter of Mr. John S. Phillips living near Leemont, who was accidentally burned several days ago, his since died of her injuries.

Horace Costin, a young negro desperado who has frequently been before the town authorities for riotous conduct and has served a term in the county jail, terrorized Holly Grove, a colored settlement on the suburbs of Onancock, last night, and wound up by shooting an old colored woman named Rebecca Bayly in the shoulder, inflicting a painful wound. Costin has not yet been found by the officers who are in search of him.

Werner Bagwell, son of Mr. George H. Bagwell, collector of customs for the port of Onancock, leaves to-day for Hampton, where he has accepted the position of local editor of the Monitor.

The United States revenue-cutter Report has been sold to Captain John W. Mears, of Wachapreague, and a new one, better suited to the purposes of the Government service, will soon be placed at the disposal of the officials for visiting the life-saving stations in the district.

A new mahogany surf-boat has been received at the Hog Island life-saving station. It is twenty-five feet long, a self-righter and self-bailer, and weighs only one thousand pounds, about one fourth the weight of the old surf-boats now in the service.

The boys had their first skating this season on Onancock creek to-day.