Officer James Smith was shot and fatally wounded by fleeing bank robbery suspects.

On June 14, 1928 at 9:20 am, a group of bank robbers attempted a theft in broad daylight at the Home Trust Company at 1117-1119 Walnut Street. Tear gas was tossed inside, forcing them to flee. In the process, they wounded three bystanders and an older man suffered a fatal heart attack from the shock. Officers James H. Smith and Darrell Capshaw were working their posts at 11th and Walnut, and 10th and Walnut directing traffic when the robbers rushed by. Officer Smith, 11th & Walnut, was shot and critically wounded with buckshot in the shoulders, neck and head, but was able to shoot out the windshield of the get-away car. Officer Capshaw, 10th & Walnut, was also wounded, his left leg broken above the ankle by buckshot. Officer James Smith died of his injuries at General Hospital at 615 pm. Guards in two armored cars parked nearly directly in front of the bank did not assist the officers in the firefight The robbery was noted as particularly daring as approximately 200 police officers were on patrol in the downtown area to provide security for the ongoing Republican National Convention. The robbers were caught several days later. The Chief of Detectives announced that the suspects capture and confessions of the Italian gangsters had broken the spirit of "Little Italy's" underworld that had perpetrated more than a dozen robberies and several killings in the last several months.

Officer Smith, 38, joined the police department in 1914 and was survived by his wife, Velma Gosset Smith. Interred: Union Cemetery. A new home at 5121 Wabash, valued at $9,000 but built at a cost of $1,600 was presented to Officer Smith's widow.

Article by Brent Marchant