Smith, Horace B. - Died 1911

SMITH

Posted By: Linda Vander Linden - Volunteer (email)
Date: 7/16/2014 at 19:15:10

Hawarden Independent, September 7, 1911

FATHER SHOT BY SON

Word was received last week of the shooting of Horace B. Smith, who was a resident of Ireton for nearly twenty years, by his 16 year old son, Burdette, at Rifle, Colorado, where the Smith family have made their home on a ranch since leaving Ireton about four years ago. The particulars of the homicide were given in a letter from a lady friend of Mrs. Smith to parties in Ireton. It seems that the father and son had had trouble in the field and Burdette came to the house very much wrought up over the matter and declared to his mother, "If that man comes after me, I'll kill him." The mother tried to pacify him but he would not listen and went upstairs. Shortly after Mr. Smith came to the house and inquired for his son and started to go upstairs. Burdette stood at the top with a shot gun and warned his father not to come up or he would shoot him. Without waiting, he then pulled the trigger and discharged the contents of the gun into his father's abdomen. He lived only a short time after the shooting. The boy has been subject to epilepsy for several years and it is thought that the disease has rendered him more or less irresponsible. Mrs. Smith is said to be crushed by grief over the sad affair. Mr. Smith was grain buyer for the Scroggs Elevator Co. in Ireton for a number of years.