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Note: Tommy Smith kept Prentiss well dressed so he could sing with their quartet. Vercie cleaned house for a lady and used the money to buy material for a dress so she could hear him sing. They got into a fight and Vercie buried his new suit and he burned her dress. He regularly abused her and was an alcoholic and gambler. He didn't like to work. Supposedly someone killed him and left him on the railroad tracks so it would look like an accident. He had been very drunk and had been to Corinth gambling and won the "pot" that night. There was no money found on his body.
Tommy had the post office in Chewalla. The Smith family didn't like Vercie or her kids and especially cut them off after the death of Prentiss.
1930 United States Federal Census
about Prentis R Smith
Name: Prentis R Smith
Home in 1930: District 14, McNairy, Tennessee
Age: 23
Estimated birth year: abt 1907
Birthplace: Tennessee
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's name: V Elizabeth
Race: White
Occupation: Section hand on railroad
Education: No college, can read and write
Military Service:
Rent/home value: Rents
Age at first marriage: 18
Parents' birthplace: View image
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Prentis R Smith 23
V Elizabeth Smith 22
M Louise Smith 3 6/12
Roland Smith 7/12
Gladys Davis, daughter of Zach and Martha, has their family Bible. She photocopied the family record pages and sent them to me. It states:
T.T. Smith born AL
M.L. Smith born AL
Willie Smith born Florence AL
Bryon Smith born Guys, TN
Lyman Smith born Guys, TN
Pearl Smith born Chewalla TN
Prentis Smith born Chewalla TN
Ollie Smith born Chewalla TN
Jewel Smith born Chewalla TN
The cemetery marker for Prentiss R. Smith lists her birthdate as Oct. 4, 1906 and death date as June 18, 1935.
SELMER NEWSPAPER Dated Friday, June 21, 1935
YOUNG MAN MET TRAGIC ENDING Chewalla, Tenn. June 20, 1935
This community was shocked and grieved to learn of the tragic death of Prentice Smith, which occurred here sometime Sunday night. His body was found near the Southern Railway crossing by a train crew about five o'clock Monday morning. He had been dead for some time and had evidently been struck by a train during the night. Prentice was the youngest son of T.T. Smith and wife. Besides his father and mother, he is survived by his wife, Mrs. Vercie Hurley Smith, three children, Mildred, Roland, and Ouida Fay; also three sisters, Mrs. Clovis Mills of Rienzi; Mrs. C.L. Carter of Memphis; and Jewel of Chewalla; two brothers, Lyman Smith of Memphis and J.B. Smith, who is employed at the Wheeler Dam. There are many other relatives and friends who mourn his loss. Funeral services were conducted in the Baptist Church Tuesday morning, by Rev. Guntharp. Interment was in Indian Creek Cemetery, with Undertaker Gooch of Selmer, in charge of arrangements.
SELMER NEWSPAPER Dated Friday, June 21, 1935
M/M Lyman Smith and children, C.L. Carter, wife and children of Memphis were here Tuesday for the funeral of Prentice Smith.
Daily Corinthian Newspaper, Corinth, Mississippi page seven
VARIOUS IDENTIFICATIONS MADE OF MAN FOUND ON TRACKS NEAR CITY
Various partial identifications of the man killed by a train on the Southern railroad tracks had been given, and some of them disproved this afternoon at the time The Corinthian went to press.
Widespread reports that the dead man was George Beemer, Jr., a former Pickwick Dam employee, were "spiked" when McPeters Funeral Home learned that Mr. Beemer is alive at Jackson, Tenn.
The man was later tentatively identified as a Mr. Turner, Pickwick Dam employee, whose two brothers also work at Pickwick. The two men are expected here this afternoon to view the body to determine the truth of the identification.
Two young men, both between the ages of 26 and 30, met death beneath the wheels of trains on the Southern railway at separate times and separate places in the vicinity of Corinth Sunday night.
Prentiss "Dickie" Smith, son of T.T. Smith, of Chewalla, was crushed to death at Chewalla. His body was found between the Southern tracks and the station curb at Chewalla, near the Miss.-Tenn. line.
An unidentified white man was found dead between the tracks of the same railroad just outside the Corinth yards.
The bodies of both men were discovered early this morning, several hours after they had succumbed to their injuries.
The man found in the Corinth yards had been killed instantly, and it was believed Smith's injuries were such that he, too, must have died instantly.
A train crew discovered Smith's body, badly mangled about the head and one foot, lying between the tracks and the Chewalla station where it had evidently been thrown by the impact. Following an inquest it was determined that he had evidently been killed by the Memphis Special or one of several freight trains that passed during the night. Residents of Chewalla offered the conjecture that the young man had been sitting on the curb and had fallen asleep. It was supposed that he walked into the train while still only partially awake.
Smith was the son of T.T. Smith, postmaster at Chewalla.
He is survived by his mother and father, his wife, Mrs. Vercie Hurley Smith, three children, Mildred, Roland and Ouida Fay; two brothers, Bryan and Lyman and three sisters, Mrs. Pearl Mills, Mrs. Ollie Carter, and Miss Jewel Smith.
Young Smith was at present unemployed. Funeral arrangements have not yet been completed, but the last rites will be held some time Tuesday.
The unidentified man found in the Corinth yards was lying on the tracks, his legs, severed from his body, on the outside of the rails. The remainder of the body was found between the rails, except from one arm, which had been stretched along one of the rails when the train passed over it.
After the coroner's inquest this morning it was decided that the man had evidently lain down across the rails and been killed by a train, or possibly had stumbled across the rails.
The body was taken to McPeters Funeral Home, where hundreds of persons viewed the body seeking to identify him. The dead man was described as being between 27 and 30 years of age, about five feet, eight inches tall, dark complexion, brown-eyed, with a high forehead.
He had false teeth and the lower set was missing.
Neatly dressed in brown serge trousers, a white shirt, a light-weight blue sweater with zipper front, new black shoes, he apparently had only recently purchased the entire outfit. None of his clothing bore laundry marks. There were no evidences by which he could be identified positively.
STATE OF TENNESSEE CERTIFICATE OF DEATH number 13486
McNairy County/14th Civil District/Village-Chewalla
File No. 142
Primary Registration Dist. No. 45714
Prentiss Rad Smith
male, white, married
Married to-Vercie Hurley
Date of Birth-Oct. 24, 1906
age- 28 years 7 months, 23 days
occ.-farmer
birthplace-Chewalla, Tennessee
Father-T.T. Smith, born AL
Mother-Mamie Cotton, born AL
Informant-Bryan Smith, Chewalla, Tennessee
Burial-Indian Creek June 18, 1935
Undertaker-R.B. Gooch
Date of death-June 17, 1935 at 12:30 a.m.
Cause of death-accident
Date of injury-June 17, 1935
Chewalla, Tennessee, McNairy County
Public place-railroad train
nature of injury-severe cranial and bodily fractory-instant death
D.G. Robinson, county coroner, Selmer, Tennessee
GOOCH FUNERAL RECORDS McNAIRY COUNTY TENNESSEE 1927-1939
Prentiss Rad Smith, page 203B, death date, June 17, 1935, funeral date, June 18, 1935, interred Indian Creek, born Oct. 24, 1906, birthplace TN, residence Chewalla, Tennessee
spouse-Vercie Hurley, father's name-T.T. Smith, born AL, mother's name-Mamie Cotton, born AL
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