Kenny Wagner
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William Kenneth (Kinnie) Wagner (February 18, 1903 in Scott County, VA - March 9, 1958) more commonly known as Kenny (Kinnie) Wagner was a bootlegger in the U.S. state of Mississippi, who murdered several people, including two sheriff's deputies. He escaped from jails numerous times, but ultimately died in prison on March 9, 1958.
His most notable escape was his last attempt and involved a clever trick that was not discovered until Wagner was outside the prison walls. He had been made a trustee whose job it was to tend the dogs at the prison. He quickly realized the dogs were the means by which the prison guards would use to track him if he were to escape again. He therefore trained the dogs not to track him by whipping them if they followed his scent.
He remained at large in Wahalak, Mississippi, for several years afterward under the alias "Big Jim," and was subsequently placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was re-captured after a jealous rival informed law enforcement officials of his residence at the house of a female friend.
There are several folksongs and ballads about Kinnie Wagner's many adventures. There are several books written about the Mississippi outlaw. And he had even been covered in comics and pulp magazines.
The East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia stories about Kinnie Wagner propose a far different picture of the gunslinger. Even the local newspaper The Kingsport Times News in Kingsport, Tennessee maps out the events that led to Wagner's initial crime, intended arrest, and eventual capture much differently than their Mississippi counterparts.
[edit] Further Reading
- Dykes, Pete. Kinnie Wagner Story. Lulu Press (July 2007) ISBN 0615152430
- Gentry, Claude. The Guns of Kinnie Wagner. Magnolia (1969) ASIN B0007F29ZM
- Moore, J.S. Gathering Leaves. Outskirts Press (April 2008)
- Moore, J.S. Understanding Apples. Outskirts Press (October 2006) ISBN 1598007467 or ISBN 1598009753
- Sweterlitsch, Richard Carl. Kinnie Wagner: A Popular Legendary Hero and His "Constituency" Indiana University Press (1976)ASIN: B000JWZ54U
