Kinnie Wagner (1903-1958) was born on a farm near Gate City, Virginia. He ran away from home at the age of 11, but was soon retrieved. However, he never again attended the sporadic schooling that was available at the time in rural Scott County, Virginia. At the age of 13 he shot a man for the first time when he discovered a person he thought was an intruder near his family home. At the age of 16 he joined a traveling circus as a roustabout. He was charged with murder in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Kingsport, Tennessee. Not only did he escape a county jail in Mississippi, but twice he escaped from Mississippi’s notorious Parchman Penitentiary, and subsequently made the FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was recaptured years later when a jealous rival led the law to the home of a female friend. Wagner died in Parchman. Several folksongs and books, and comics and pulp magazine articles have been written about him. The author, Larry Massey, holds a PhD in biology and has worked for NOAA. This is his second book about a Southern outlaw. He lives in Mobile.
Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company, 2017. 176 pages with an Index, Notes, and photos. Hardback in dust jacket