Sam Smith
Arrested 3 Aug 1898
He was sentenced to death by a jury but served a life term. the Governor never signed off on his sentence.
He ran with Tom Wind & Joe Hardin
Below is the town of Andover, Kansas
Here are the links to the newspaper articles on his crime.
28 Oct 1897
Wellington, Kansas
Some early crimes
He was wanted by the Frisco Railroad for holding up the train at Andover, the Wells Fargo Co. wanted possession of Sam Smith for getting funds from their patrons, he was wanted at Crystal Springs for robbing a safe, and the U.S. authorities wanted him for robbing a post office at Danville. State authorities were after him for breaking out of the penitentiary. The Butler County attorney wanted Smith for the shooting of Belford and that didn’t even include charges of stealing a horse and carriage when escaping from Andover.
Usually a woman was allowed to visit her husband in the county jail, but Mrs. Smith was the exception. She had been accused of aiding her husband in his schemes to break out from behind bars, so she was not given free access to the jail.
On the first time she was allowed to visit her husband and left, Smith was searched and found to have a good supply of revolver cartridges. From then on, a reasonable distance was kept between the two and a guard was present. Mrs. Smith was extremely upset and telling anyone who would listen that she was being treated bad.
22 Aug 1898 William Belford died from the gunshot wound. There was no way to determine who actually fired the fatal shot. But Sam Smith and Tom Wind were now looking at murder charges.
The night Belford died word was sent to the Sedgwick County Jail that a mob was likely to come to Wichita and attempt to lynch Sam. Four deputies guarded the jail all night and the next night, but no mob came.
The two men were taken back to El Dorado in December to stand trial separately for the murder of William Belford. Sam Smith’s trial was first and the courtroom was packed when court convened on 7 Dec1898.
He was sentenced to death by a jury but served a life term. the Governor never signed off on his sentence.
He spent the remainder of his life locked up.
He was married to Tom Hick Wright's daughter, I never found her name, she was just called Mrs. Smith in the articles.
I found him in the 1900 census in Lansing, KS state prison, the last record I found for him.
What a story and what a life, she loved her man and she stood by him no matter what.
Be interesting to find out more family information.
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