Brookhaven, Mississippi, August
13, 1955 ― Lamar (Ditney) Smith was murdered today in broad daylight. Smith is
veteran and farmer here in Lincoln County. He served in Europe in World War One.
Today he was helping other Blacks vote in person, so they were not intimidated
Between the primary on August 2nd and this Main vote on Aug 13 he
has also helped people vote absentee.
Smith was a longtime member of
the Regional Council of Negro Leadership; a civil rights group focused on
voting. Today Smith was on the steps of the Lincoln County Courthouse in
Brookhaven guiding people with the process. The 63-year-old farmer was
passionate about getting people to vote and defending them at the polls. In fact,
his last words were, “No White man is big enough to run me out of Brookhaven,” then
he was punched by a White man.
That White man based on a few
accounts was apparently Noah Smith. Lamar Smith rolled with the punch on the
courthouse lawn. When he came up, he took a stance of a fighting man and Noah
Smith grabbed him they stood there punching each other. Then another White man
walked up stuck a pistol close to his ribs and fired.
There were about 40 people on the
grounds of the courthouse and most of them saw the drama unfold. Noah Smith,
Charles Falvey, and Mack Smith had loudly objected to Smith’s actions saying he
was acting like a Black man was equal to a White man. After the shot was fired
and Lamar Smith collapsed, they fled.
Sheriff Robert E. Case saw that
Noah Smith was covered in blood, so he detained the three men as suspects,
however he let them go within the hour. The sheriff then interviewed most of
the people who were at the courthouse, but he couldn’t get anyone to go on record.
DA E.C. Barrow called for a grand jury for the 20th of August. This
also did not go well; the DA couldn’t present witnesses. Barrow then requested
extra investigators from the governor who denied him.
In January 1956 a new DA tried
again but even though he called 75 witnesses, just like the previous grand jury
the witnesses said they saw nothing. This was a dark year for Blacks in
Mississippi. George W. Lee, a grocery store owner and director of the local
NAACP branch, was murdered in Belzoni, Mississippi, then on August 28 14-year-old
Emmett Till was tortured and killed in Money, Mississippi.
After the murder of Till Dr
T.R.M. Howard the President of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership
questioned J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI and why were slow to find killers of
African Americans in the South. This became a running battle of words in the
newspapers since Hoover was thin skinned to any criticism.
The Department of Justice closed
the federal case for Lamar Smith in 2010 without resolution, the reason given
was that everyone involved in the case was dead.
Sources:
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/smith-lamar-1892-1955/
https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/lamar-smith
https://mississippitoday.org/2024/08/13/1955-lamar-smith-murdered/
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