From: Sherri Hall [ldrbelties@earthlink.net] Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 8:32 AM To: KY-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [KYF] NEWS: Ernest Smiddy Arrested, 1940, Whitley Co. Submitted by Mary Lou Hudson The Whitley Republican, Williamsburg, KY - Thursday, November 7, 1940 Ernest Smiddy Held In Jail For Shooting Ernest Smiddy, 20-year-old Packard youth, was arrested Tuesday night by Deputy Sheriff LEWIS DOPLE, and is in the Whitley County jail on a charge of shooting with intent to kill. Smiddy's arrest took place after Sam Petrey, about 65 years old, was shot once in the arm at his residence at Packard. The bullet entered the fleshy part of the arm and ranged into the shoulder. When the shooting was reported to the county officers, Commonwealth's Attorney J.B. Johnson, Magistrate Sid Peavley and Jailer John Faulkner rushed to Packard where they joined Magistrate G.M. Castle and Constable E.L. Walker in an investigation of the case. Officials of the Mahan Jellico Coal Company telephoned to LaFollette for Herbert Williams and his bloodhounds, and the dogs took up the trail and proceeded straight to Smiddy, who denied any knowledge of the shooting. Officers reported that the shooting took place when Petrey stepped out of his back porch and lifted up a dipper to take a drink of water. The bullet, fired from ambush, barely missed the dipper and struck the Packard man. Petrey was rushed to a Knoxville hospital by Maurice Howard, where his condition is not regarded as serious. Smiddy, according to the arresting officer, is a stepson of the injured man. The shooting, it is believed, was the outgrowth of a family quarrel. ______________________________