The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-11-04
From the Madison Wisconsin, Journal
Confession of Kidd, the Murderer OIL
Miss Jordan.

Miss Jordan.
II will 90 remembered that in June
hast we puo ished the details OF hor-
rible murder in Grant county, Miss
Catherine Jordan having been killed by
her lover, William E. Kidd, in Glen
Haven, June 10, 1868. There were cir
cumstances of such peculiar atroclty
connected with the crime that public
indignation was aroused to the utmost,
and large rewards offered for the arrest
OF the n 1rderer, as follows: By the
State of Wisconsin, $500; by Grant
county, s., by citizens of Glen Ha-
ven and Bl, mington, $3.50, and by cit
liens of Fem uore 500, making, in all,
$3.50.
After sundry utile attempts to trace
and capture Kidd, Mr.. Delaware, a res
sfdent of the town where the murder
was committed, al acquainted with
the parties, learRed o. the presence of a
man answering his description, in
Georgetown, Colorado. Having obtain
ed photograph of Kidd, he sent it to
his correspondent in Colorado, who tel
egraphed that he was the man, but that
he had been gone some three weeks.
Mr.. Delaware, however, managed to
trace bin, and with the assistance of
Frank Winship, of Sionx City, Iowa, ar
rested him in Noble county, Minnesota,
on the 9Th of October, Kidd giving him
self up to all appearances willingly.
He was taken to the railroad as coon as
possible, and while Oh the cars, October
IA, near Jefferson, Green county, Iowa,
committed suicide by taking strych-
nine. Careful search had been made
about the person and clothes of Kidd
for concealed weapons or poison, but
nothing was found. After taking the
poison Kidd told Of it, saying: "You
searched well, bat the small paper of
strychnine had been sewed inside the
lining of my pants, where its discovery
was next to impossible"
The following is the substance of
confession made by Kidd to Delaware
on the first night of his capture:
He and Katie Jordan had always
been intimate friends, were raised to-
gether; he had taken her to parties,
&c, and made her many presents; that
at one time he got to drinking; she in
duced him to stop, saying: "If you will
stop drinking Pll make a man of you;"
that he loved her, and told her if she
didn't marry him she never should mar
ry any enc; this was two months before
the murder. A couple of days before
the act he took his trunk to Cassville,
and shipped the same to S. o. b. Mar
tin, Mazomanie. On Monday evening
thereafter, he went with his horse and
buggy to Mclver's to see her; they
talked awhile, and he asked her to take
ride with him, saying it would be the
last ride she would ever take with him;
said he was going away, but would be
back on the 4th of July and take her
sister to dance. She got into the bug
gy; he referred to the presents he had
made her, and that he had set of furs
in his truHk that he had intended to
give her, and other articles; observed
while riding that ring he had given
her was rot worn; he then returned her
picture, which she took and put in her
pocket.
He let down fence, and passed
through n field, came to a ravine, turned
his horses quartering across the road,
then took out his revolver, ard told her
to shoot him. She refused, and answer
ed, "William, what are you going to do
am afraid of YOU" He then took
out his knife, and she said, ''My God,
William, are you going to cut my
throatl He answered, II am" He
then placed his arm around her head,
and aimed to draw the knife across her
throat; she seized the knife, and in SO
doing, cut her Eand severely; he then
wrenched the knife from her, and cut
her throat, holding her head with his
arm until life was extinct; he then
alighted and lifted the body out of the
buggy, intending to throw it into a
sink-hole near by, when the horses
started; thinking somebody was com
ing, he left the body and jumped into
the buggy, drove to his fathers, left his
team, and got 4 horse, and fled.
On being asked why he killed Miss
jordan, Kidd said, he "killed her for
love-" that he was in misery for TIVE
months before he had killed her; that
he did not want any one else TO marry
her. His last words were, "Tell mother
that killed her for love"