Robert Vance Smith

1920 - 1959  (38 years)

• Name	Robert Vance Smith
  Birth	15 Dec 1920	Ages, Harlan Co., KY   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	1 Dec 1959	Frankfort, Franklin Co., KY   [1]
  	Cause: apparent suicide from excessive dose of strychnine
  Burial	3 Dec 1959	Camp Nelson National Cemetery, Nicholasville, Jessamine Co., KY   [1]
  Person ID	I50719	Meadow Bluff Meanderings
  Last Modified	19 Jan 2025

  
  

  Family	Dorothy Catherine Wilder,   b. 10 Dec 1921, Balkan, Bell Co., KY d. 7 Apr 2015, Lexington, Fayette Co., KY (Age 93 years)
  Children	1. Russell Vance Smith
  Family ID	F17780	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	18 Jan 2025

  
  

• Notes

  Son of Russell Vance and Nannie (Randall) Smith. The Lexington Herald, Lexington, KY, Wednesday, 2 Dec 1959, p. 8, col. 4 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-lexington-herald-poison-fatal-to-off/163390338/ Poison Fatal To Officer At Frankfort FRANKFORT, Ky., Dec. 1 (Special) - Warrant officer Robert Vance Smith, 39, Parkside Drive, died of poison which Franklin County Coroner Leon Harrod said was self-administered early today. Harrod said Smith had rented a room in the Capital Hotel Monday afternoon and was later seen in a downtown drug store about 6 p.m. Monday. At about 8:45 a.m. today he called assistant hotel manager Kenneth Singleton and said he was ill. Guests on both sides of Smith's room told the manager they had heard sounds of distress from Smith's room earlier and a bellboy in the hotel was summoned to break down the door which bolted on the inside. Singleton said Smith was having convulsions on the bed when they entered and became unconscious after telling him he had taken poison. He died en route to King's Daughters Hospital about ten minutes later. Harrod said a small bottle, half full of strychnine, was found in the room occupied by Smith and there was evidence he had taken the powder mixed with water. Smith was attached to the adjutant general's office in the Capital Building and was advisor to the Army National Guard. He entered service prior to World War II and saw active service both in that conflict and in the Korean War. He was a member of the F&AM and the First Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Dorothy Wilder Smith a son, Russell Vance Smith; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Vance Smith, Lexington; a brother, Hugh Smith, Lexington; two sisters, Mrs. Lillian Howard, High Splint, Ky., and Mrs. Madge Kajdacx, Camp Lejeune, N.C. Services will be conducted at Harrod Brothers Funeral Home at p.m. Thursday by the Rev. John Hunt of the South Frankfort Presbyterian Church. Burial will be in the Lexington Cemetery where military rites will be held at the graveside. (Medical):Died en route to hospital after ingesting poison in Capital Hotel, Room 317, Frankfort, KY.

  
  

• Sources

  [S1355] Kentucky State Board of Health Bureau of Vital Statistics, Kentucky Death Certificate, (http://www.ancestry.com :2007.), death certificate 59-25640 (1959), Robert Vance Smith, accessed 19 Jan 2025. (Reliability: 3).