Born: April 10, 1906, the son of Leslie and Grace Healey Smith
Died: August 15, 1959
Married: Mary Fletcher
Children: Oliver, Smith Jr., John Smith and Joseph C. Smith, Mrs. Patricia Howe, Mrs. Donna Hart, Mrs. Shirley LaMas, Mrs. Joan Neece, Mrs. Beverly Groth, Mrs. Dorothy Naegele, Diane Smith
Oliver Smith was a son of Leslie and Grace Healey Smith
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 17, 1959
Lawrence Murphy Held for Killing Oliver Smith
2 Saranac Lake Men Have Fight at Camp
Both Had Been Drinking When Tragedy Occurred
State Troopers this morning said that charges will be brought against Lawrence A. Murphy, 45, of Saranac Lake for allegedly killing Oliver Smith, 53, of 10 Park Avenue, Saranac Lake.
Smith was killed Friday night at his state camp in the Floodwood section near Saranac Inn. Murphy reported Smith's death late Saturday morning and State Troopers have been investigating it since then. Dr. Richard P. Bellaire Franklin County coroner, told The Enterprise this morning that Smith died of a fractured skull and hemorrhage of the brain from a blow on the head. He also been shot in the left thigh by a .22 caliber rifle and stabbed in the right face. There were two other lacerations, Dr. Bellaire said, one of the left upper arm and the other of the right foot. These Smith might have gotten, Troopers said, in falling on a broken bottle at the camp.
Murphy is in the General hospital with a wound in his right knee. He had been shot by a 30.06 rifle which, he told the Troopers, was fired by Smith.
Sgt. Platt J. Harris and Corporal William Miller of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Corporal Kenneth O'Dell of the Ray Brook station of the State Police investigated.
Smith was found lying on the floor of the porch of the camp next to his cot. There were considerable bloodstains on the porch, Sgt. Harris said, and bloody footprints in the camp.
Murphy said that he and Smith had been drinking wine and listening to a ball game on the radio Friday night.
A Syracuse paper said that Murphy had told several different stories of the affair, but Sgt. Harris said the man had been consistent in his report. Murphy is reported to have said that he and Smith had an argument, that Smith hit him in the eye and that Murphy walked away into the woods and on returning was shot.
Murphy Admits Blow
In the struggle that followed between the two big and powerfully built men, Murphy said he wrested the gun away from Smith and hit Smith, knocking him out. The stock of the gun was shattered and has been brought to Trooper headquarters at Ray Brook as part of the evidence.
Murphy, who has been a roofer and truck driver, had recently been operated on for ulcers at Sunmount Veterans Hospital. He is a veteran of World War II. He is unmarried. After his operation he had spent two weeks at the Smith camp.
Smith was a plumber and had been working Friday night in Tupper Lake. He took the evening train to Floodwood and walked into his camp which is on a small pond about six miles west of Route 10.
Murphy said he didn't realize Smith was dead until Saturday morning when he tried to wake him up. Murphy then walked out of camp, got a ride to the railroad crossing, and sent a message shortly before 11 a.m. for a doctor and state police through Mike Yenson who sent it to Ralph Meagher, relief station agent at Saranac Lake.
Bill Furlong, accompanied by Alton B. Anderson, took the ambulance to the crossing and picked up Murphy who had a blood-stained rag around his wounded knee.
Smith Services
Mr. Smith's body is at the Fortune Funeral Home in Saranac Lake where a Rosary service wall be held tonight at 9:30. A funeral Mass is scheduled for tomorrow at 9 a.m. in St. Bernard's Catholic Church, Burial will be in St. Paul's cemetery, Bloomingdale.
Survivors include his wife, the former Mary Fletcher; three sons, Oliver, Jr., Ticonderoga; John and Joseph C. of Saranac Lake; and seven daughters, Mrs. Patricia Howe, Conn.; Mrs. Donna Hart, Utica; Mrs. Shirley LaMas, Penn.; Mrs. Joan Neece and Mrs. Beverly Groth, Rochester; Mrs. Dorothy Naegele, Kansas; and Miss Diane Smith, Saranac Lake.
Two sisters, four brothers and 10 grandchildren also survive. Smith was born April 10, 1906, the son of Leslie and Grace Healey Smith.
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