Newport weekly independent., 1901-06-14
STORY OF THE SHOOTING.
Kidd, an Embezzler from Alabama Tracked Down by Officers of the Law Five Years After His
 Flight.

AS reported in Thursdays INDIE PENDENT, W. w. Kidd, merchant of Diaz, was shot about two o'clock on Thursday afternoon by John Dye, a deputy sheriff, in resisting arrest. The shot entered his left side passing through his chest forward of the heart and lodging just beneath the skin on his right side at spot corresponding almost to that of the entrance of the bullet. The wound while demanding care and the best of surgical attention does not endanger his life in the opin- ion of Drs. F. D. Willis and c. West, who extracted the ball and have his case in charge.
 He was brought to Newport late Thursday afternoon and placed in the Willis Intirmar yon Second St., where he is waited upon by his wife and made as comfortable as possible.
 Deputy Sheriff J. G. Wright of Mar shall County, Alabama, keeps a con- stant guard over his prisoner, whom no one is permitted to see at the pre- sent time. It is probable that Kidd will be able to travel by Sunday and if so, he will be taken back to Gun tersville, Alabama, there to answer for an embezzlement of public funds five years ago.
 A reporter for the INDEPENDENT enterviewed the different parties con- nected with the arrest and shooting and finds the material facts to be as follows:
 Jno. Dye, deputized by Sheriff Ban dy was entrusted with the arrest, ar irving at Diaz about two o'clock, where he found Kidd at work in the cotton field with his hoe Going for ward to where Kidd was at work, he pulled his revolver and demanded that he throw down his hoe and sub init to arrest, naming the grounds for same and stating tha6 Governor Davis had honored the requisition papers of the governor of Alabama, and threat ening to shoot if his commands were not obeyed. Dye affirms that Kidd answered.: "Shoot, G. d-y you, for I'll never go back to Alabama" at the same time drawing his hand to his bosom as though weapon were con- cealed there. Dye shot, though the prisoner says he was only throwing up his hands to indicate surrender, which was probably true as subse- quent examination showed that he had no weapon upon his person.
 The Alabama parties who c2me to arrest Kidd were J. G. Wright, the deputy sheriff and M. M. Dowdy, county clerk of Marshall county, which is in the extreme northern part of Alabama. They assert that the in formation which led to the arrest of Kidd came to their notice through a brother-in- law of the captured man, George Whitney, who accompanied the party here.
 w. w. Kidd was once highly es- teemed in his former home, having been elected three successive times upon the Populist ticket superintend ent of education in that county. In 1896, however, an investigation by the grand jury led to his indictment, the books of his office showing shortage of $500. When he became aware that the meshes of the law were tightening about him, he secured pos session of $3,O00 in funds controlled by him as an officer and skipped. Of this, however, the prisoner claims that accounts to his credit will not make a net deficit of over $500. He has signified his intention of making a clean breast of his embezzlements and asking the clemency of the court
 The prosecution, urged on by the bitter feeling of the people against the public servant who had abused theil confidence, tracked him to Mexico, but here all trace was lost. The prisoner says he went from there to St. Louis where he lived a year, then came te this county in '9s, settling at Diaz where he purchased property ant since that time has been running store.