Beth Ramsey, Staff Writer

It begins with a fire in the middle of the night. What follows is the investigation of the murder of an Indianapolis businessman climaxing to the only judicial hanging in Jefferson County. Murder in the House of God by David Taylor is the story of John W. Beavers’ brutal murder of Indianapolis real estate agent John W. Sewell Sr., at New Liberty Methodist Church, near Lexington, in 1877.

Former Milan native David Taylor discovered a newspaper clipping dated February 15, 1878 relating the events of the murder in the church and the execution of Beavers. “I found the story fascinating,” noted Taylor. The year and a half project was pieced together from newspapers on microfilm at the library and the historical society. Although there were no court reporters used then, a writer for one of the Madison newspapers took down word for word the witness statements at the trial, according to Taylor. Also, the author found a day-to-day recording of events of the time at the circuit court which helped him to write the story.

Agreeing to show two tracts of land near Osgood, Sewell traveled to North Vernon and made an agreement with Beavers. Sewell was persuaded to board the train to Scott County where he expected to be paid for the land. Convinced by Beavers that his partner left the money with family, Sewell agreed to travel with Beavers to rural Jefferson County where he was murdered. His body was found inside a burning church by those living nearby who extinguished the flames. At first mistaking the corpse for John Beavers, the citizens soon learned that Beavers was alive and believed to be responsible for the death of Sewell. The book tells of the trial and sentencing of John Beavers who later “put his faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ.”

Taylor has also written the book, With Bowie Knives and Pistols about Morgan’s Raid in Indiana. He wrote and produced a CD that dramatizes the events of Morgan’s Raid and is for sale at the Ripley County Historical Society. He and his wife Cheryl live in Lexington. Taylor’s father, the late Rev. Henry Taylor, was a pastor in the Wesleyan Church in Holton, Milan and Versailles. He has two sisters; Donna and Wayne Mahoney from Milton, Kentucky; and Kathy and Howard Henry also from Lexington. His brother Standley and wife Joyce live in Versailles.

Taylor will be discussing Murder in the House of God at the Madison-Jefferson Public Library on Saturday, February 23 at 10 a.m. Books can be ordered through LexingtonHaus Publications, 10530 W. State Rd. 256, Lexington, IN. (See related advertisement in today’s paper for ordering information)

SUBMITTED PHOTO David Taylor, author of Murder in the House of God, is pictured with the old church in the background where the murder actually took place over 130 years ago.