Julius Clifford Smith
Shawnee Man Takes Own Life
Apparently delirious from what officials believed a severe head pain, Julius Smith 32, last Wednesday evening at his ranch about six miles west of Shawnee, picked up a small caliber rifle, threatened his parents, a sister and a nephew and drove them from the home and then turned the weapon upon himself, firing a fatal shot in the right temple.
Smith had been in ill health for some time and it is believed that the pain led him to commit the rash act, to relieve his great suffering. The bullet, a .22 long rifle, although striking the skull with enough force to cause a fracture, did not pass from the skull.
Under sheriff Batton and Coroner Hoffman of Douglas were called to the home and the body was later removed to a Douglas mortuary. Funeral services were held last Friday with Rev. J.M. Falconer of the Douglas Baptist Church officiating and burial was in the Douglas cemetery.
He leaves to mourn his death his mother and father; two brothers, Carl of Bear Creek and Edward of Hanna, Wyo.; tow sisters, Marie Krassow of Michigan City, Ind., Amanda of Douglas, and a number of nephews and nieces, as well as a host of friends.
Douglas Budget, Nov. 28, 1940
Julius Clifford Smith, a rancher residing about seven miles east of Orin, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Wednesday, evening, Nov. 20, 1940. Normally a man of ill health, he had suffered greatly the last few days of his life and it is believed he ended it to relieve the suffering. He was 32 years of age. He was born April 26, 1908 at Stamford, Nebraska, the son of Andrew and Anna (Jensen) Smith. He came to Douglas with his parents in 1918 and lived with them on a homestead near Bear Creek until about a year ago when they moved to the Pickinpaugh place east of Orin. He was unmarried. He recently purchased a house in Orin where he was planning to move his parents. Besides his mother and father he is survived by two brothers, Carl of Bear Creek and Edward of Hanna, Illinois; two sisters, Marie Krassow of Michigan City, Illinois and Amanda of Douglas; a niece and a number of nephews.