The Topeka State Journal

MURDERED FAMILY
John Kidwell Says He Used Bat on McKnellys.
Wellington Family Killed in Tent--Affair Was Mystery.
Hannibal, Mo., Feb. 23.--John Kidwell, arrested here Saturday, has confessed to the murder of the McKnelly family at Wellington, Kan., September 24, 1912.
The murder, in which an aged man, his wife and a grown daughter were clubbed with a baseball bat, attracted nation-wide attention on account of its resemblance to the mysterious ax murders then occurring in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and other western states.
Kidwell in his confession implicated the son, Otto McKnelly, who was under arrest for weeks after the mangled bodies of his parents and sister were found in their tent home. While a deputy sheriff is accompanying Kidwell back to Wellington, Kan., the sheriff of Sumner county, Kansas, is on his way to Madison, Wis., where young McKnelly has been suing for the $2,000 insurance carried by his father and mother.
Guilt Preyed on Him.
A picture of the tent scene has been preying on Kidwell's mind. He came here recently from Moberly, Mo., and formed acquaintance with a railroad detective, to whom he remarked that he was wanted in Wellington. Kidwell seemed to want to talk to someone, and gradually took the detective into his confidence.
Kidwell's remarks indicated to the officers that he may clear up other crimes. In eleven murders in Sumner county in the last five years only one conviction was obtained.
In his confession Kidwell told of finding a baseball bat on his way to the McKnelly tent, of how he crept into the tent and sought out McKnelly, but awakened the wife, who screamed. This awakened McKnelly, according to Kidwell, and in the scuffle the old man was killed. Kidwell said he hit either the wife or the daughter, but did not think he hit both women.
Wanted to Confess at Once.
After the crime, Kidwell related, he burned his blood-stained clothes at his sister's home. The crime was heavy on his mind then, he said, but when he thought of telling the police, his sister told him he would be foolish to do so.
Kidwell is 48 years old, a well dressed man of quiet demeanor. Since he left Wellington he has also lived in Peoria, Ill., and Slater, Mo.
The spot where the McKnelly tent was pitched was a lonely place, blocks away from any home, a half mile east of the Santa Fe roundhouse. The interior of the tent showed signs of fierce struggles. In addition to being beaten with the ball bat, Mrs. McKnelly was shot through the head.
Otto McKnelly, now 22 years old, then worked as a car repairer for the Santa Fe.
Unbalanced, Wellington Officers Say.
Wellington, Kan., Feb. 23.--John Kidwell while living here married a shoemaker's widow and left her, saying he would commit suicide. She has been trying to find him. The officers here have definite opinions as to who committed the tent murders and believe that the murderer had no help.
They believe Kidwell unbalanced.
DOUBT HIS CONFESSION.
Wellington People Believe Kidwell Is Mentally Deranged,
Wellington, Kan., Feb. 23.--Authorities here believe John Kidwell, who confessed in Hannibal that he killed three members of the McKnelly family a year and a half ago, is telling a falsehood. They say he is crazy in spite of the fact that Kidwell worked here at that time.
Kidwell came to Wellington a few weeks before the triple murder. He worked as a blacksmith for a man named Herron for several months. He departed about three months ago. He did not say where he was going. No one here knows much about the man, or his antecedents. No one noticed any unusual traits about him.
Theodore McKnelly, his wife and 19-year-old daughter were murdered as they slept in a tent the night of October 18, 1912. McKnelly's son, Otto, found the bodies. He worked at night in railroad shops. Otto McKnelly was arrested, but was released after the judge, at a preliminary hearing, declared the evidence insufficient.
Otto McKnelly went to Madison, Wis., several months ago to collect some insurance due him as the survivor of his parents and remained in that state, working for his uncle.