Regarding the two men who had spent the night of the murders at the Krebs home, Aaron K. Taylor was the brother of Ben Krebs’s wife, Rhoda. James Preston was a close friend and neighbor of the Krebs family. Preston owned acreage adjoining the Krebs property that he farmed. Preston had moved to Texas after the Civil War with his wife Martha and their children. Three of the Preston’s ten children are buried in Brushy Cemetery, near Bowie, Texas.
