... So far as I can tell, the only source of Sutton's claim is from local radio station WHO presenter Andrew Ledwith's documented interview with the participants next morning. ...
Check the D & B report, pp. 42 ff. ...
Ledwith didn't interview any of the previous night's shooters the following morning (the 22nd). He didn't arrive at the house until midday, having first heard of the incident when he went to the WHOP facility to consult with an engineer at circa 1100.
When he arrived Taylor was still out hunting and wouldn't return to the house until 1345. Ledwith created a sketch with Taylor alone before leaving during the afternoon, after deliberately leaving the women's version in plain sight for Taylor to see.
Lucky, J. C., and Baker were gone to Evansville and wouldn't return until 2030.
Ledwith returned at circa 1930, did some more sketching with Taylor, and handed Taylor off to Hodson. He specifically mentions that when Lucky first entered the house appearing agitated he saw the women's version of the sketch, calmed down, and sat to begin discussing the sketch with Ledwith.
Now about the sound-like-a-bucket bit ...
Ledwith mentions it was during his interview with Lucky and the other two men that Lucky mentioned a sound like shooting a bucket when he'd fired point blank at the visitor who'd come around the corner of the house into the front yard (following the 1st roof shot / tree shot sequence).
Ledwith first heard about the sound-of-a-bucket bit sometime after 2030 on the 22nd. By that time the initial
Madisonville Messenger, Evansville Press, and
Kentucky New Era newspaper articles had all been published. The
New Era article doesn't mention anything about ricochets or bucket sounds. The
Messenger article only mentions J. C.'s claim of ricochets.
NOTE: CN - do you have a copy or transcript of the
Evansville Press article on the 22nd?
If there was a published claim of a sound-like-a-bucket on the 22nd, it could only have been in the
Evansville Press.
No such claim could have been derived from Ledwith's interviewing, because he didn't hear about the bucket bit until the evening of the 22nd.
A reporter (or at least recorder of comments) and photographer from the
New Era were on the scene when the police investigated in the night, and they returned the following morning.
I've never seen any specific claim that anyone from the Madisonville paper had visited the scene during the night or the following morning. This is why I've suspected (by default) Lucky and company may have stopped by the Madisonville newspaper offices while passing through to Evansville on the morning of the 22nd. On the other hand ... Some state troopers scrambled to the scene from their Madisonville station during the night, and it's entirely possible a Madisonville reporter learned of the action and followed them during the night or journeyed to Kelly the following morning.
If there's no mention of the bucket / sound bit in the Evansville article of the 22nd it would indeed seem to trace to Ledwith's notes, but it could not have been published as early as the 22nd.
There's one other possibility that comes to mind. Hopkinsville radio station WHOP folks broadcast an initial report at 0715 and 0925 on the morning of the 22nd, after which their reporter traveled to the scene and taped a short interview which was broadcast at 1230 and 1800 the same day. I suppose there's a chance someone mentioned the bucket / sound bit the night before (and reported in the earlier broadcast) or mentioned it on the taped interview broadcast later.
...
