OFFICIALS MAKE WIDE SEARCH FOR NEGRO KILLER Condition of Homer Nave Reported Very Critical Federal and

State officers are searching for Richard Jones, negro, of Midway, who officials believe shot and killed Ben T. Rogers, of Lexington, and seriously wounded Homer Nave, of Midway, when they went to the assistance of warehouse guards at the Midway distillery early Friday morning to help apprehend whisky thieves. Authorities at Good Samaritan hospital, to which Nave was brought immediately following the shooting, said late Friday night that the condition of the wounded man was very critical, but that the attending physicians are of the opinion that several days must elapse before the outcome of his condition can be determined with any degree of certainty. Two negroes are under arrest charged with having been implicated in the raid on the distillery, which resulted in the death of one man and the wounding of another. Negroes Sign Confession Federal officers stated Friday night that the two negroes arrested have signed written confessions admitting their part of the robbery and declaring that James was the one that shot and killed the officers. The negroes under arrest are John Bohannon and James (Monk) Kennedy. Both men are in the Fayette County jail. Federal Prohibition Agent H. J. Klaine left for Midway Friday morning when the news of the attempted robbery became known and throughout the day conducted an investigation of the affair. Kennedy was already under arrest at Versailles when Agent Klaine left for Midway. During the day Agent Klaine went to the Versailles jail and talked with

Kennedy and the arrest of Bohannon followed shortly afterwards. The affidavits and written confessions of the two negroes agree in practically every detail. Both Bohannon and Kennedy stated that they went to the distillery in the company with James, arriving there about 1:30 oclock Friday morning. According to the confession James was the only one to enter the distillery. Lifting and breaking a lock on a window James slipped into the building and was to have handed out the cases of whisky to the two who waited on the outside. James had been in the distillery but a few minutes when the officers approached. At the first shot, which is supposed to have been fired bythe officers the two negroes on the outside fled, leaving James inside. The exchange of shots which resulted in the death of Jones (Rodgers) and the wounding of Nave followed. Following his conference with Kennedy at the jail at Versailles Agent Klaine went to Bohannons home in Happy Hollow, in Midway, and placed him under arrest. Bohannon admitted his part in the raid on the distillery and signed a written confession as did Kennedy. Agent Klaine was accompanied to Midway by Deputy Collector Austin, of the Lexington office of the collector of internal revenue. Marshal Asborne, at Midway, assisted the officers in the investigation they made during the day and rendered invaluable assistance Agent Klaine declared. Agent Klaine arrived in Lexington Friday night with his prisoners. Agent Klaine then reported to Chief Prohibition Agent Paul Williams and filed the confessions and affidavits taken during the day. Kennedy was brought to Lexington by Deputy Sheriff White, of Woodford county.

Every effort is being made to capture Davis, the leader of the three involved in the crime. Both Bohannon and Kennedy are charged with breaking into a government warehouse. In their confessions Bohannon and Kennedy declare that of the three, Davis was the only one who had a gun. Edward A. Bacon, of Thorn Hill, night watchman at Greenbaum distillery while in Frankfort Friday said that Porter Collins, who was a member of the party that attempted to capture the whisky thieves recognized Albert Kennedy, a negro, as one of the men who took part in the robbery. There were but two negroes in the building, Bacon said but that at least six confederates were on the outside. The thieves had secured twelve cases of whisky in quarts, which they had expected to carry away in a truck that had been parked in Tin Cup Alley. Lexington Herald 10/09/1920