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J. Stayton Smith, D. U. S. Marshal

OFFICER’S DEATH IS LAID TO OWN MERCY POLICY

November 2, 1943—Daily Oklahoman—J. Stayton Smith’s life-long dread of killing a fellow man may have cost him his life in the struggle Sunday with Carl Jesse Murphy, city bellhop, members of his family believe.

            “He has handled hundreds of desperate prisoners and arrested all types of criminals, but he never shot at anyone.”  Mrs. Smith recalled.  “He always said he would never shoot at anybody unless it was a last resort to save his own life.”

            C. A. Smith, a brother from Mena, Arkansas said the federal officer believed he would never have to shoot anybody.

            Smith, a guard in the federal building, was shot to death Sunday after Murphy, crazy from marijuana, grabbed his gun in the army recruiting office.

            Services will be at 2 p.m. in the Smith and Kernke funeral home.  Burial will be in Memorial Park.

            Smith has been a peace officer a quarter of a century.  He was named a special federal officer and assigned to Guthrie during the railroad strike disturbance shortly after World War I.  He served a period as deputy United States marshal and in 1927 was appointed deputy marshal again, serving until 1933.

            Since then he has been a special officer for various groups and federal agencies.  He was bailiff for the United States circuit court of appeals and was appointed special federal building guard in January, 1941.

He was born August 22, 1882, at Ashton, Illinois, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Smith.  IN 1901 he moved with his parents to Payne County and settled near Mulhall.

            He attended Oklahoma A. and M. College, taught one term of school in Logan County and was a county farm demonstration agent in Muskogee and Wagoner counties. In 1912 he was appointed federal stock inspector for eastern Oklahoma and served in this position until he enlisted in World War I.