One of my ancestors was supposed to be a Marshall of Verden Okla. in the 1920's. In 1931 he was sent to McAlester State prison for murder of Griff Anderson in Grady Okla. While he went to prison under the name of George W. Smith, he was born Willis M. (Willie) Hopwood. I have the prison records, but can't find any other information re him. I was told by a family member there was a detective magazine that carried the story. Could you please tell me how to go about finding out about him? Thank you, Joan

You should be able to find some newspaper stories from that time period that have the information you are looking for. The prison records should give you a narrow period of time to search. The Grady County newspapers should be on microfilm at the Oklahoma Historical Society and possibly at locations in Grady County such as the library.

The Oklahoma Historical Society also has some copies of the "Peace Officer" magazine of the Oklahoma Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association from the 1920's. It is possible his photo may be in one of those magazines.

Dear Joan,

According to "Oklahoma Heroes" (p.224) by Ron Owens, Verden City Marshal Alexander A. "Griff" Anderson was killed in the line of duty sometime during the late night hours of December 2 or early morning hours of December 3, 1925. His dead body was found on the morning of December 3. News reports indicated that after "his head had been pounded into a jelly", his body had been dragged 350 feet and thrown into a Rock Island Railroad boxcar. He was still breathing when found but died within minutes.

Evidence indicated that the original struggle had been in front of Bruce's Garage in Verden. His gun and extra bullets were missing. Anderson had been the City Marshal of Verden for 16 months and was simutaneously commissioned as a Grady County deputy sheriff. He was survived by his wido and four children.

Two Mexicans were soon arrested near Verden but were quickly cleared of the crime and released. Two weeks later, Walter C. Swigert, 40, was arrested in Fort Cobb. Two brothers, Luther O. Lime, 26, and I. H. "Bud" Lime, 23, were arrested in Davenport. A witness reported that on the night of Anderson's death, he had seen Swigert drunk, covered with blood and heard him say he had beaten a hijacker badly, probably to death. Swigert was charged with the crime, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

(Reprinted with the permission of Ron Owens.)

NOTE: Unless your ancestor, George W. Smith (aka Willis M. "Willie" Hopwood), figured into this case at some later date, he was not implicated in the murder of Griff Anderson.

As I searched my Homicide Data Base for other murders in Grady County for this time period, I came across one that may, or may not, pertain to your specific query. Here it is:

In August of 1931, W. M. SMITH killed Edith Jones in Grady County. He was tried in May of 1931, convicted, and sentenced to 4 years in prison. An appeal was filed in October of 1932; however, the sentence was affirmed by the Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals on June 30, 1933. {See; 54OKCR452}

I don't know the specific circumstances of this case without locating the local newspapers of the period, which I would be glad to do if you think it might pertain to your query. I hope this helps.

CORRECTION: Of course, the trial was conducted in May of "1932", not 1931.

I have a couple of questions about your reference to this story being written-up in a Detective Magazine. Do you know the name of the magazine? And, what was the significance, or importance, or uniqueness, of this case that would warrant it to be newsworthy enough to make a (national) Detective Magazine?

I have access to a number of old Detective Magazines. If you could provide me with a few more details about your ancestor's case, I'll check my sources for the printed story. Surely, the prison records have the "date of entrance" to the facility, and the "discharge date"!?!

Looking forward to hearing from you, soon.

I will check back to see if you have anymore news.

Dear Joan,

I decided to locate the newspaper articles relating to this homicide. I discovered that your family history is correct! George W. Smith did go to prison for killing Verden City Marshal Griff Anderson.

In a wild turn of events, here's what I found:

Chickasha Star 12/3/1925 (p1 col.3-4) "City Marshal (Anderson) of Verden, Murdered"; 1/21/1926 (1/5) "Sheriff Wilson Has New Murder Clues"; 2/18/1926 (1/5) "Three Held for Anderson Murder" - Walter Swigert (40), L.O. Lime (26), and J.H. Lime (23); 3/4/1926 (1/5) "W.C. Swigert (Pre-lim)Trail, Saturday"; 3/11/1926 (1/1-5) "Swigert Held for Anderson Murder"; 4/1/1926 (1/4) "Swigert Trying to get $6,000 Bond."

At this preliminary hearing, it appeared to be a slam-dunk case against Walter C. Swigert for the killing of Griff Anderson; however, I have not found any articles about the actual trial, conviction, and sentence. He may have been convicted and sent to the penitentiary; but, I just haven't located the articles, yet.

FIVE AND ONE-HALF YEARS LATER - - THE CASE IS SOLVED!

Chickasha Star 5/28/1931 (p1 col.3-5) "A Woman's Conscience Caused The Arrest of the Verden Murderer"

"The mystery of who killed Night Marshal Anderson of Verden five years ago is no longer a mystery. G. W. Smith, former city marshal of Verden, is on the way to the penitentiary at McAlester for life; and, once more, a woman from whom sleep had almost vanished, can sleep."

"Prior to Anderson being appointed city marshal of Verden, and night watchman, the place had been filled by Smith. After Smith was discharged, he had lived on a farm four miles south and one mile west of Verden where he was alleged to have manufactured and sold whiskey."

"Officers and citizens of Verden had been at a loss as to the murderer of Anderson for more than five years until the confession by Smith. Smith made a full confession; and, when his plea of guilty was given, he was told by Judge Linn that he had 24 hours in which to withdraw his plea and enter a plea of not guilty before sentence was passed."

"Smith is 50 years of age. He served a term of one year in the Federal Penitentiary in 1903 for forgery."

NOTE: The articles about this incident are very detailed. Basically, here is what happened.

"Smith told of Russell "Cotton" Bruce with another man coming to his place southwest of Verden on the night of December 2 for whiskey and they told him they wanted the whiskey for a bunch of men, who were gambling. He said that Bruce told him they wanted a gallon of whiskey but could not pay for it then but would pay him when they reached town, if he would return with them.

Enroute to town, they found their car was out of oil, and Bruce said they could go to his father's filling station for the oil. Griff Anderson, night watchman and city marshal was standing near the filling station and as he had a key to the pumps was called upon to deliver the oil."

While Anderson was putting the oil into the car, the men began to argue about the whiskey and payment. Anderson decides to search the car. Bruce struck Anderson with a heavy iron bar several times. Thinking he was dead, they decided to carry his body to the railroad yard and place him in one of the boxcars.

George Smith was sitting in the car when the fatal blows were struck; however, Cotton Bruce's father came out of the garage with his rifle and forced Smith to help with the disposal of the body. At the railroad yard, Anderson showed signs of life; so, more blows to the head were inflicted.

Chickasha Star 6/4/1931 (1/4) "Trial of Bruces, Friday"; 6/11/1931 (1/8; 6/6-8) "Elder Bruce Turned Loose..."; 6/25/1931 (1/6) "Verden Murderer (George Smith) Begins Life Term."

"George W. Smith was the second witness for the state. Smith said he was fifty years of age and lived four miles south of Verden...(he) testified that he lived on the Dave Marshal farm, farmed on shares and made whiskey on the side."

(He goes on to tell the whole sordid story in great detail.)

"Smith testified that he had been deputy sheriff under Matt Sankey and had been deputy sheriff in Caddo County under Mr. Cox and Mr. Nixon...that he gave up his deputy commission about a year before he helped to murder Anderson...after the murder, he went to Verden with his wife and that he and his wife ate dinner with Matt Sankey in Dick Brown's cafe.

Smith took the job of Anderson, the dead man, at once, beginning his duties the night after the murder was committed. He was on duty for three days, working mostly at night...(later) he went to Canadian County in 1927, remained there a while and then came back to Chickasha and worked in Harry Miller's cafe for about three weeks..."

The case broke in 1931 when Smith's girlfriend, Mattie Carter turned him in. Apparently, he talked in his sleep!!!

Joan, if you would like (free) copies of these articles, please include your e-mail address with your next posting on this sight.

Joan,
The following web site has a story taken from "Official Detective Stories" with the orginial story by Fred Covert, http://marti.rootsweb.com/law/pic/aaanderson.htm

I have copies of two articles from the Daily Oklahoman, Friday, Dec 4,1925,P18,C4,"Officers Seek Slaying Clues" and Monday, Feb 22,1926,P7, C2, "Suspects in Death Case are Released".

Any other information you have that we might place in the permanent Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial file of A A "Griff" Anderson would be appreciated.