Smith County Jail Inmate Search

The first Smith County jail came after 1875, when the county rented a store. The court was held on the ground floor and the jail was in a cellar. It was said to be the best built building in the town. The inmates were secured to a metal pole to hold them. The jail was used as distribution room for relief supplies after a grasshopper invasion. One jail was built in 1881. A stone jail was built in 1893 and was in use past 1959. The current jail opened in 2015. The capacity of the jail is 755.

In June of 1875, some horse thieves were found in Ellis County by the Sheriff of that county. There was a shootout and Sheriff Alexander Ramsey was killed. The thief that killed Ramsey was shot and killed. The other thief was also shot and made it to Smith County, where he was reported to law enforcement by the doctor that treated him. The man was arrested and jailed before the trial. The trial was only over the stealing of horses. The defense that was put up was that since the horse was owned by an Indian, it was not actual theft. The thief was found innocent because of this technicality.

On September 27, 1919, Deputy Sheriff Otho Munger was following two men who suspected of robbing a pharmacy two weeks before. The men realized they were being followed and pulled over to the side of the road. Munger pulled beside them. The men shot the deputy. The suspects then put their belongings into Munger's car and stole it. They were never found. Munger had only been a deputy for two weeks, having been hired after the pharmacy robbery. No one knows how he recognized the suspects.

On February 27, 1994, Gregory Starr got into a confrontation at a nearby bar to the county with some football players and students of a local community college. He and some friends went and got firearms and went to the apartments of the students. He and his friends opened fire, killing one of the students. One of the men with Starr was his brother.