 The Whitewright Sun
Friday, July 9, 1920 pg. 1 NEGRO BOY KILLS SISTER ACCIDENTALLY Lonnie Smith, negro, about 9 years old, killed his 3-year-old sister Tuesday afternoon on the Bill Everheart farm north of town. The killing is claimed to be an accident. The boy was left at the house by his parents to care for his sister while they were at work in the field. Soon after they left the house the boy opened a trunk and got a 45-caliber pistol and shot his sister in the eye, killing her instantly. He then took the body and hid it in some weeds near the house and left home. He was located later in the afternoon at a negro house about 2 miles from his home. It is believed by some that the boy deliberately killed his sister, as he was angry because his parents left him to care for her, although at press hour no complaints had been filed against him.  Sherman Daily Democrat Friday, July 9, 1920 pg. 5 Pavement Paragraphs Deputy Sheriff Lee Cantwell and County Probation Officer John Moore went to Whitewright Friday to make an investigation of the killing near there Tuesday of a 3-year-old Negro girl by her 10-year-old brother. The shooting was first reported as accidental, but according to reports received here the boy hid the body in a clump of weeds after the shooting and ran away. The officers had not returned early Friday afternoon. Lonnie Smith, a Negro boy 9 years old shot and killed his 3-year-old sister on the BIll Everheart farm, north of Whitewright Tuesday while the rest of the family were at work in the field. The killing is said to have been accidental, the boy having found a pistol with which he was playing. The Whitewright Sun Friday, July 16, 1920 pg. 10 NEGRO BOY CHARGED WITH MURDERING GIRL Lonnie Smith, the 9-year-old boy who shot and killed his 3-year-old sister Tuesday of last week on the Bill Everheart farm north of town, was arrested last Saturday morning and lodged in jail at Sherman and charged with murder. At first the killing was reported as accidental, but a number of people in the community who knew the boy did not believe that the shooting was accidental. The sheriff's office was notified of the killing. After an investigation was made the boy was placed under arrest and charged with murder. Officers Moore and Cantwell made a careful investigation of the affair. They state that they learned that the negro boy had been seen a number of times with a pistol, and had actually made gun plays on passersby on the road. The boy is a son of Lon Smith, who was convicted in Federal court several years ago for violation of the internal revenue act in selling whiskey without a license, and is a brother to a negro who made his escape from the District court in Sherman while being tried on a felony charge. Following a hearing before County Judge Dayton B. Steed, sitting in Juvenile Court, Tuesday morning, the boy was committed to the State training school for boys at Gatesville for an indefinite term. The family of the boy did not contest the sending of the boy, agreeing that it was the best thing which could be done with him. FELONY Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |