Vaiden,
The Murder of
Joe Smith
Charged With Murder in Marshal’s ShootingVictim’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 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 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 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 Vaiden Murder Trial Results in Hung JuryThe
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 Results from
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