06/23/2026
Officer Charlie Smith
Duncan Police Department
End of Watch: June 23, 1939
Charlie Smith was born in Walhalla on October 4, 1891, to Thomas and Sarah Watkins Smith. He grew up on the family farm in Tugaloo with four brothers and five sisters. Charlie served in the United States Navy during WWI and was discharged on December 16, 1921. Charlie worked at the textile mill as a carpenter and farmed before beginning his law enforcement career.
Charlie married Ada Steagall, and together they had a daughter, Ruth and a son, Charles, Jr. Ada died in 1924, and Charlie married Dollie Harvey and together they had three daughters, Alice, Rubie and Margie.
Charlie served for about seven years as an officer with the Lyman Police Force and the Tucapau Mill. He joined the Duncan Police Force in 1932.
At around 10 o’clock in the morning on June 23rd, 1939, Officer Charlie Smith arrested Jim R. Moore for drunkenness, and he was taken to the Greer City Jail to sober up. Officer Smith asked the jailer to “give him a real good dinner, and he would pay for it when he came back after him later.” At around 4:00, Moore was released from custody, to a relative. At around 5:30, Officer Smith was sitting in Deputy Roy Lister’s patrol car, in front of the Post Office and talking with the deputy and another Duncan resident, when Moore approached and asked to speak with officer Smith for a moment. Officer Smith followed Moore to the building at the coal yard, where Moore had been staying. Without warning, Moore pulled out a double barrel12-gauge shotgun he had hidden away and shot Officer Smith, as he stood in the doorway. The load of shotgun pellets struck Officer Smith in the thigh, dropping him to the ground. Hearing the shot, Deputy Lister ran to the scene and found Officer Smith on the ground, with Moore standing in the doorway with the shotgun leaning against the building. Officer Smith was rushed to the Spartanburg General Hospital by ambulance but bled to death before medical aid could be provided. He was 47 years old.
Moore was arrested and charged with the murder of Officer Smith. He was taken to the Spartanburg County Jail.
Funeral services for Officer Charlie Smith were conducted on Sunday afternoon at the Duncan Baptist Church, and he was buried in the Duncan Cemetery. The honorary es**rt included Duncan Mayor T.R. Anderson, Greer Chief W.J. Tapp, Highway Patrolman M.G. King, Jr., and Officers Roy Lister, J.P. Snow, Eber Martin, Grady Bennett and T.T. Henderson. He was survived by his wife, five children, four brothers and five sisters.
Jim R. Moore was sentenced to life in prison following a consent verdict on July 29, 1939.
Duncan Police Officer Charlie Smith was inducted into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame on May 1, 2019, never to be forgotten.
