Deputy Sheriff Hoke Baird Smith

Hoke Baird Smith

Deputy Sheriff Hoke Smith succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained five months earlier when four men came to his house near Clarkton and shot him.

The murder was in retaliation for Deputy Smith's involvement in a raid on an illegal whiskey still in Welches Creek township.

The four suspects all pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison. One was paroled on January 10th, 1936. Another escaped from prison in October of 1930 and was captured in April of 1933 in Oklahoma. He escaped again on April 12th, 1939, but was quickly recaptured. He was paroled on February 13th, 1943.

Deputy Smith was survived by his wife, three sons, and five daughters.