Constable Arthur Thomas Smith

Arthur Thomas Smith

Constable Arthur Smith was shot and killed while he and his partner patrolled an area off Easton Road, near the modern-day Newman Golf Course.

The officers stopped to investigate two cars parked on the side of the road. Constable Smith's partner stayed in the squad car as Constable Smith got out to investigate. As Constable Smith approached the vehicle he called out to the two occupants. One suddenly fired four shots, fatally wounding Constable Smith.

The shooter's accomplice surrendered to authorities the next day. He was exonerated by a coroner's jury and released. The shooter surrendered four weeks later. At the same time, two hunters came across the badly decomposed body of the accomplice near Havana. He had managed to leave a note before he died implicating the shooter in his death and the murder of the Night Marshal Martin Friedrich, of the Manito Police Department, on July 8th, 1922. The shooter was convicted of Constable Smith's murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 1924, after exhausting all his appeals, he hanged himself in prison.

Constable Smith had served with the Peoria Park District Police Department for two years. He was survived by his wife and two children.