The death of William Desmond Taylor
Los Angeles, United States, 1922
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
On the morning of Thursday, February 2, 1922, the servant Henry Peavey found the film director William Desmond Taylor, 49, dead in his bungalow at Alvarado Court in Westlake. Born in Ireland, Taylor had directed about sixty silent films. A man who introduced himself as a doctor examined the body briefly, declared a stomach hemorrhage and was never seen again. Only when investigators turned the body over did a gunshot wound in the back appear, from a small-caliber weapon that was not at the scene. The death was placed at around 7:50 pm the night before, and his wallet with $78, his watch and a diamond ring were still on him.
The last person to see him alive was the comedy actress Mabel Normand, who left the bungalow at 7:45 pm carrying a borrowed book. Police also investigated Taylor's former servant Edward Sands, who had forged his checks and disappeared after the crime, and the young star Mary Miles Minter, 19, whose love letters to the director were found in the bungalow and published by the newspapers. Her mother, Charlotte Shelby, became the favorite suspect of many authors: she reportedly owned a rare .38 revolver, with ammunition similar to that of the crime, and gave police statements regarded as evasive.
Sources
In the game
Cap in the Hedge
Los Angeles, Thursday, February 2, 1922, 11:00 am. In a bungalow court in Westlake, film director Lorcan Kilbride, 49, was found at 7:30 am slumped behind the desk in his study.
Evidence was lost through mistakes at the crime scene and, over the years, the case files disappeared. Los Angeles prosecutors declined to charge Shelby for lack of proof, and no one was ever tried. The scandal, together with others of the era, led the studios to add morality clauses to actors' contracts. Taylor's death remains officially unsolved.
