Henry Peavey
Taylor’s valet, Henry Peavey, had a penchant for wearing outlandish clothing and talking in an affected manner. Three days before the murder, Peavey was arrested for “social vagrancy” and charged with being “lewd and dissolute” while ingratiating himself to young men. In 1931, he died in a San Francisco asylum where he had been hospitalized for syphilis-related dementia. One is tempted to ask, why did Taylor employ such a dubious character as his most trusted servant?
Hannah Howe 