Henry Peavey (March 3, 1882 Henry Peavey in the World War I draft living in San Francisco. – December 27, 1931) was the cook and valet of Hollywood silent film director William Desmond Taylor. Peavey served in the first World War and worked for Taylor for six months prior to Taylor's murder in 1922.
Employment by Taylor Prior to working for William Desmond Taylor, Peavey was employed by the wife of director Christy Cabanne."Meet Henry Peavey", Los Angeles Record (February 13, 1922), reprinted in Taylorology 86. Peavey was hired by Taylor after he dismissed his previous butler, Edward F. Sands, for forging his signature on checks.
Three days before Taylor's murder, Peavey had been arrested for "social vagrancy" and charged with being "lewd and dissolute"."Valet in Court on Vagrancy Charge", Los Angeles Record (February 3, 1922), reprinted in Taylorology 60. Taylor was scheduled to appear in court on Peavey's behalf on February 2, 1922, but was murdered the day before.
Taylor's death Peavey discovered Taylor's body at 7:30 on the morning of February 2, 1922. He was repeatedly questioned by police and reporters for possible leads, but was of little help. Some Hearst reporters suspected that Peavey was withholding information, so they kidnapped him a few weeks after the crime and attempted to scare him into a confession.Los Angeles Times (February 22, 1922), reprinted in Taylorology, p. 6. For the perspective of one of the kidnappers, see Florabel Muir, Headline Happy (Holt, 1950), pp. 100-102. In a 1930 interview, Peavey expressed the widely unsupported belief that actress Mabel Normand was Taylor's killer.Los Angeles Record (January 7, 1930). This is examined much further in "Why Taylor's Servant Thought Mabel Normand was the Killer", Taylorology, p. 10.
Death A few months after the Taylor murder, Peavey left Los Angeles and moved to San Francisco. In 1930, he was admitted to the Napa State Hospital with general paresis due to an untreated case of syphilis. He died there of tertiary syphilis on December 27, 1931.
References
External links The William Desmond Taylor Case