Samuel Taylor Atkins is the great grand uncle of my friend, Lacey Atkins Russell. We began communicating via the Cannon Cemetery Facebook page after realizing we both had a 20-year-old great grand uncle who was murdered over a girl. What's even more strange, is that both of our familes were living in Tom Bean, Texas in 1920 and possibly went to church together before moving their seperate ways. I didn't know much about Samuel at the time, except his death scarily resembled my own uncle (see Geocache #GC5QYP2--The Murder of Frank Miller). When Lacey took me up to the VA cemetery she told me the entire story:
Samuel Taylor Atkins was born in Celina, Tennessee, Clay County on March 23, 1904 to Elisha Joe and Nellie Atkins. In 1919 him and his parents and 8 brothers and sisters made the trek to Tom Bean, Texas searching for work, later moving to Howe, Texas. On May 14, 1927 Sam was stricken with a 2x4 by Ollie O'Neal during an altercation at a party in Howe, Texas. The cause of this fight was a girl. Sam was taken to St. Vincent's Sanitarium where he lingered for five days in a coma finally dying on, May 19, 1927 of a fractured skull. Sam was buried near his brother James Bedford and Nephew E.J Davidson. Sam only has a flat concrete marker with a discernible "A." What's even more bizarre, is that Sam's killer is buried in the same cemetery as him.
Good luck on this easy cache.