also referred to the 15th-century English conflict). Their campaign stops drew massive crowds, ranging from around 6,000 in smaller towns to 25,000 in Nashville. In a record turnout on election day, Robert Taylor defeated Alfred by 16,000 votes. Although Taylor was uncomfortable with the criticism and attacks that came with the executive office, he succeeded in enacting both tax and educational reform. He was assailed for issuing too many pardons and demanded for the state to build a reformatory for juveniles. When he did not gain legislative approval for such a reformatory, he issued a pardon to virtually every juvenile who sought one. In 1888, an angry Bourbon faction sought to thwart his nomination for re-election but was unsuccessful. He won the general election later that year, with 156,799 votes to 139,014 for the Republican candidate, Samuel Hawkins, and 6,893 for the Prohibition candidate, J.C. Johnson. In 1889, Taylor signed into law a poll tax and a number of other bills aimed at suppressing turnout among blacks and the poor. A number of prohibition laws were also repealed. Suffering from ill health and disenchanted by divisions within his own party, he did not seek re-election in 1890. In the early 1890s, Taylor, struggling with debt from constant campaigning, asked his brother, Alfred (who was now a US representative), for advice. Alfred suggested for Robert to go on a lecture tour and invited Robert's family to move in with his family until he got his finances in order. Robert opened his tour on December 29, 1891, at Jobe's Hall in Johnson City, where he presented his lecture, "The Fiddle and the Bow," with an admission price of 50 cents per person. After Alfred left Congress, he joined Robert on tour, and the two co-wrote and presented Yankee Doodle and Dixie. The tour was a major financial success by netting the brothers tens of thousands of dollars. In 1896, the Democratic Party was again concerned about Republicans' chances of winning the governor's office and believed that the incumbent, Peter Turney, had won the office by using questionable tactics two years earlier. When several Democratic leaders invited Taylor to run, he reluctantly agreed and defeated Turney for the party's nomination in August 1896. After a fierce general election campaign, he edged the Republican candidate, George Tillman, with about 49% of the vote to Tillman's 47%. Republicans suggested voting irregularities had helped Taylor win,