Vaiden,

Mississippi

 

The Murder of Joe Smith

 

Charged With Murder in Marshal’s Shooting

Victim’s Wife Held in Kosciusko Jail

The Conservative, January 19, 1961.  Pp. 1., 4.

 

Mrs. Lottie Skelton Smith, 50, wife of Vaiden’s Marshal, who has been charged with his murder, is being held in the Attala County Jail in Kosciusko. District Attorney Chatwin M. Jackson, Jr., said yesterday that no preliminary hearing has been scheduled yet.

 

Hezekiah “Joe” Smith, 53, marshal of Vaiden for 16 years, was shot to death with his own gun about 11:30 Saturday night as he sat on the edge of the bed, Deputy Sheriff H.R. Michie said.

 

Mrs. Smith, 50, admitted the shooting but said that the gun went off in a scuffle during which she was trying to take the gun away from him for fear he would shoot her.

[Ed. Note:  This edited picture shows the decedent with his hands clasped together.  NO mention is made of how the hands were placed in this position, but it seems rather impossible for the decedent to have clasped them together after he had been shot in the head.   If they were clasped together when he was shot, it is unlikely that a struggle ensued, as testimony stated.  This is one of a set of five pictures taken by the coroner or sheriff before the body was moved.  Although this author has all five pictures and all are unedited, DO NOT ask for copies.]

 

After the shooting, Mrs. Smith called a neighbor, Dr. H.R. Powell [Power] who went to the home and notified officers.

 

Sheriff Michie said that Smith was just coming off duty and was still fully clothed, still wore a hat, when he was shot through the left temple with a .38 revolver.

 

Murder charges were filed Sunday after further questioning, said District Attorney Jackson who disclosed there was no physical evidence the shooting was in self defense.

 

The Carroll County grand jury does not convene until May.

 

In an interview with a Conservative reporter at the Kosciusko Jail yesterday, Mrs. Smith said that her husband had been in ill health for a long time and that recently he had become despondent “losing interest in everything, even his job.”

 

She said, “He had been having spells of brooding over his health, and took many shots and pills.”  She was unable to identify the medicine.

 

“I petted him like a child all the time,” she said.  “Still he seemed to hate me even though I did everything I could to help him.”

 

“He had threatened to kill himself Friday night (the night of the shooting [Ed. Note: This was actually the night before the shooting]) but I managed to get the gun away from him.”

 

“The scuffle Saturday night was just a continuation of the one Friday night, but the gun went off and he slumped to the bed.”

 

“I don’t see how anybody could think that I would kill him.  I lived with him for 31 years, and that’s a lifetime.  If I ever could have done such a thing, it would have been long before now,” she said.

 

Mrs. Smith was weeping and obviously distressed throughout the conversation.

 

Preceding the incident, Smith had said, “I can kill you and myself too,” Mrs. Smith asserted.

 

Mrs. Smith said she has not asked for a preliminary hearing and is waiting to see “what they will do.”  She said, “I don’t know what to do and don’t have anybody who can do anything for me.”

 

She said she has not yet obtained an attorney.

 

Services for Mr. Smith were held at Bethel Church Sunday afternoon with Lee Funeral Home in charge.

 

Besides his wife, he leaves a daughter, Mrs. R.C. Overstreet of Winona; two sisters, Mrs. Johnny Skelton of Route 2, Carrollton, and Mrs. Blanche Dunn, Grenada; a son, Tommy Smith of Nashville, Tenn.; six brothers, four grandsons, and his mother.

 

Mrs. Smith is the daughter of the late John Tom Skelton and was raised near North Carrollton.

 

 

 

Vaiden Murder Trial Results in Hung Jury

The Conservative, November 16, 1961.  P. 1.

 

The trial of Mrs. Lottie Skelton Smith resulted in a hung jury at 10 for and two against conviction as the jury deliberated from 6 to 9 p.m.  She was charged with shooting her late husband Vaiden deputy Hezekiah Smith last January.

 

Mrs. Lottie Skelton Smith , 50, widow of the late Hezekiah “Joe” Smith, Vaiden Marshal, went on trial this week charged with the murder of her late husband in a scuffle at their home in January.

 

Smith, aged 53 and Vaiden marshal for 16 years was shot to death with his own gun near midnight as he sat on the edge of his bed last January 14.  Mrs. Smith told at the time that she was “trying to take the gun away from him for fear that he would shoot her.”  After the shooting Mrs. Smith called a neighbor, Dr. H.R. Powell [Power] who went to the home and notified officers.

 

Sheriff Charger Michie, who made the investigation, said back in January that Smith was just coming  off duty and was still fully clothed, still wore a hat, when he was shot through the left temple with the .38 revolver.

 

Murder charges were filed on Sunday, Jan. 15, after further questioning by District Attorney Chatwin Jackson “disclosed that there was no physical evidence that the shooting was in self defense.”  Mrs. Smith’s defense attorney is Maurice Black of Carrollton, with Dist. Attorney Jackson prosecuting for the state.

 

 

 

Results from Courthouse Court Minutes

 

 

In November 1962, the case against Lottie Smith resulted in a mistrial and was continued until the next term of court.

 

In November 1963, the case against Lottie Smith was “remanded to files” on the motion of the State.

 

 

Further information will be added, as time permits.