Newport weekly independent., 1902-07-11

Iuc dUOVO uOCc, lOuuu OA d IeUl0
 In his room at a Little Rock
 hotel, explained the manner of death
 of Col. J. N. Smithee, one of the best
 known newspaper writers in the
 southwest On the bed lay the body
 of Col Smithee, in his right hand
 clasped S8calibre revolver, with one
 chamber empty, the leaden missile
 having went straight through his
 temple, entering the right side. Col.
 Smithee was last seen alive on the af-
 ternoon of the 4th, and his body was
 not discovered until about twenty
 hours after death and his many
 friends were dumbfounded at the news.
 About two months ago Col. Smithee,
 while in New York city, fell on slip
 pery pavement and sustained a frac-
 ture of the right ankle, which caused
 him intense suffering. He returned
 to Little Rock apparently on the road
 to recovery, when he was stricken with fever A few weeks spent at Hot
 Springs greatly benefited him, but he
 was still sufferer from the accident that befell him in New York. His was such character that would not
 permit of appeals to friends for aid, under the circumstances, and he deliberately planned to take his own life Col Smithee was native of Arkansas, and numbered among his personal friends her most prominent citizens, and to all of them it would have been pleasure to have rendered him assistance had they but known of his circumstances.
 A longtime associate of the de- ceased, referring to his life, says:
 "The tragic death of Col. J. N.
 Smithee has unnerved all his friends.
 Every person who knew him-and
 thousands knew him-should be his
 friend, for he never did aught, in his
 long career in which he held position
 that gave him opportunity, to exercise
 influence against the individual. He
 had an affection for Arkansas that
 know no bounds. If all the money
 that he had contributed to relieve the
 pressing wants of the mendicant,' the
 tramp and cripple were available it
 would pay for the most costly monu-
 ment that marks the resting place of
 any dead citizen of Arkansas. The
 worst blow that Smithee ever struck
 his friends was administered when he
 touched the trigger of the weapon
 which sent the leaden missile through
 his manly brain. He died like
 philosopher, it is true, but he inflicted
 more sorrow in this world by that single act than most men, even the
 most aggressive, do in a lifetime" Biographical.
 Col James Newton Smithee was bern in Sharp county, Arkansas, January Il, 1912, of Scotch-Irish parentagc, and his paturnal grand father was q soldier in the revolutionary War. His father, d native of Tennessee, was q farm CT by occupation, and his mother was d native of Illinois and daughter of Rev. John Wood rum, of Virginia, prominent Baptist minister The sons education consisted of a three months twelfth year he worked on his fathers farm He was then apprenticed to the publisher of q for four years worked for his board and clothes learning the trade of printer and compositor
 Mhen S se prae couny of Brownsville, and conducted it in support of
 Breekinridge and Lane in the presidential cam paign of 1860. On the secession of South Car olina he sold his interest in the paper and ar dently espoused the southern cause. In Feb ruary 1861. he aided in the seizure of the United States arsenal at Little Rock, and in
 March was with the expedition which captured Fort Smith. When Arkansas seeded he was
 mustered into the Confederate service as a private in Woodrufs battery, May 21, 1S6l and in May, 1S65 he surrendered, being at that
 time first lieutenant and adjutant in Blocker's participated in all the leading battles of that department and was wounded at Helena, July 4, 1863. At the close of the war he resumed
 his trade of typcsetting in Memphis, but in November 1866, he returned to Little Rock and became the foreman in the office of the Daily Arkansas Gazette. During the eight
 succeeding years he was connected with the paper, becoming city editor, managing editor
 and finally proprietor He took an active part in the celebrated Brooks Baxter war, in April and May, 1874, serving the staff of Gov
 ernor Baxter, with the rank of colonel, and upon the overthrow of the Brooks faction and the reorganization of the government ap- pointed commissioner of state lands. He was twice reelected to the post and accomplished
 many notable reforms during his tenure. Hav- ing declined a third reelection he established the Arkansas Democrat. which be ably con-
 ducted for several months, and then. disposing