Career
Taylor had held jobs as a service station attendant, electrician, plumber, autobody repairman, and grill man in restaurants. A career criminal, Taylor had been serving a jail sentence in Jasper, Alabama for grand larceny when he killed an elderly guard to escape. The first of four prison escapes prior to his addition to the most wanted list in 1953.
He was a "persuasive talker" with a Southern accent who was always armed with a gun and switchblade.
Taylor escaped from a train on September 1, 1952 while being transported from Chicago, Illinois back to Alabama following a previous escape, and was added to the list on March 3, 1953. He was captured by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on May 26, 1953 in Chicago while "caught in a traffic jam".