Smith, Hubert

Obituary -- A man identified by two Picher Oklahoma residents this afternoon as Hubert Smith, 44, was fatally wounded at Commerce, early today by Officer Art Peck. One bullet, fired from a .38 caliber pistol, entered the victim's left lung and lodged in the right. He died shortly afterward at Miami Baptist hospital. Smith was shot after he resisted arrest and threatened Peck's life at the corner of First and North Vine streets, Commerce, investigators said. The victim had been rooming at the home of Mrs. Nellie Kirk at Picher. Mrs. Kirk and an aunt of Smith, Mrs. Charles Casbolt [?], also of Picher, positively identified Smith this afternoon after several hundred persons had viewed the body earlier today without being able to identify the man. The two women said Smith recently completed a prison term at Leavenworth Kansas penitentiary. The man himself gave his name as "Brown," but later changed it to "Charlie Jones," and his residence as Cardin Oklahoma. The officer said he had followed the victim to the scene of the shooting in his car after noticing the man's suspicious actions around the Cunningham service station at Commerce and River streets. "I had watched the man around the service station, so I decided to follow him up," Peck said today in describing the shooting, which occurred about 1:45 am. "I pulled my car up to the curb on First and North Vine, got out and searched him [Smith]. He had a five-gallon can, which was empty, and a three-foot rubber hose in his possession. He must have intended to steal gasoline. I told him he was under arrest. "I got back in the car when he suddenly wheeled about 20 feet away and ordered, "Put up your hands, or I'll kill you in your tracks." the officer said the assailant then came toward the opposite car door to Peck, who was behind the wheel.
He said the man reached for his hip, as if for a gun. "When he reached the door, he lunged at me," Peck said. "In the meantime, however, I had got my own gun out. He grabbed for it and we fought for the gun. He had none in his possession." "Several times it seemed the gun barrel was pointed at the pit of my stomach. I kicked him away once, but he came right back. Again we wrestled for the gun and once more I succeeded in kicking him away. This time I had to shoot him. He was about four feet away when I shot. I fired one shot, the bullet knocking him to the ground." A Mitchelson ambulance was summoned and Smith was rushed to Miami Oklahoma Baptist hospital, where he died about 2:40 am. The victim made no statement on his death bed. He first told Peck his name was "Brown" immediately after he was shot. Then he said his rightful name was Charlie Jones as he was being placed in the ambulance." He died in a semi-conscious condition.
Several hundred persons meantime passed through the Mitchelson undertaking company parlors at Commerce, today to view the body. None could identify the victim. Sheriff Eli Dry, who is investigating, assigned deputy Sheriffs Henry Blanton and Ralph Bolt and undersheriff Herman Mozer to the case in efforts to identify Smith either by photographs or through fingerprints. County attorney A. Clark, who investigated the shooting on his way to Miami this morning from his Picher home, said, there was no question on early probing of the officer's act. He said Peck's decision to shoot Smith was imperative, since the officer's life had been threatened. Peck, who was dangerously wounded Aug 30, allegedly by George Wheeler, 26 year old Commerce WPA truck driver, this time reversed the score on his assailant. The officer told a reporter that his right hand, the middle and forefingers especially are weakened as a result of gunshot wounds received in the Wheeler incident and that he had a difficult time in warding off Jones described as a tall man and much heavier than Peck. Investigators said that a car Smith had parked on North Vine street, but which he had left during his movements about town immediately before the shooting, is believed to be a stolen vehicle. A coach, the car bears Kansas tags, No. 10-4214. The tags were originally issued to Charles Van Kirk for a 1927 roadster at Baxter Springs Kansas, sheriff's officers said. Tattoo marks on Smith's body aided officers in identification. A cross tattoo, five and one-half inches by two and one-half inches, appears on the lower right forearm. On the upper left arm is a bird, on the lower left arm is an anchor and heart and a dagger. Depicted on the back of the left hand is a side view of the body...Funeral arrangements for Smith are incomplete.

Obituary -- Sheriff Eli Dry said today that Hubert Smith, 44 year old Picher man fatally wounded in attempting to resist arrest by Officer Peck at Commerce early Tuesday had a long criminal record. In all, Smith served 23 years in combined sentences to Missouri state penitentiary at Jefferson City Missouri and to Kansas state penitentiary at Lansing. The sheriff said Smith completed 13 years of a 15 year term at Jefferson City for highway robbery and that he served 10 years in three different sentences at Lansing for such crimes as burglary and robbery. At the Mitchelson undertaking company, where the body of the victim is being prepared for burial, it was learned that Smith has followed a criminal career most of his life. That statement came from an aunt, Mrs. Minnie Jones of Afton Oklahoma, it was reported. Immediate survivors of the gunshot victim include two brothers, Paul Smith and Mark Smith, both of Des Moines Iowa, and two sisters, whose names and addresses are unknown. Burial will probably be in G.A.R. cemetery, Miami, Friday afternoon, although definite arrangements have not been completed. More than 1,000 persons, it was estimated, viewed the body at undertaking parlors yesterday. According to information obtained from an aunt of the ex-convict, Smith was released from Lansing penitentiary Aug 31 last. Since that time the man had been rooming at the home of Mrs. Nellie Kirk at Picher. Burial at G.A.R. cemetery at Miami.