On a spring afternoon in East Tennessee, Kingsport Police Department Patrolman John F. Smith, 35, was working to apprehend a wanted man. It was April 13, 1925, the day after Easter, and the assignment would be his last. The fugitive was William Kenneth Wagner, a man who would become known as the serial killer Kinnie Wagner, or "The Texas Kid." Already wanted for the murder of a deputy sheriff in Mississippi, Wagner was a dangerous and elusive target.
The violent encounter that followed on the banks of the Holston River would leave two law enforcement officers dead and a community in shock.
The lead that brought officers to the river was a tip that Wagner was planning a secret rendezvous with his sister, whom he hadn't seen in years. A group of lawmen, including Patrolman Smith, Sullivan County Deputy Sheriff Hubert Webb, 25, and Kingsport Officer George Frazier, gathered near the Long Island of the Holston River to intercept the fugitive. As the officers moved in to make the arrest, Wagner, a skilled sharpshooter, took cover and opened fire. In the ensuing gun battle, both Patrolman Smith and Deputy Webb were fatally wounded. Officer Frazier was also critically injured but survived the initial exchange.
The brazen daytime shooting sparked a massive manhunt for Wagner. The day after killing the two officers, he surrendered to a storekeeper in Waycross, Virginia. Justice for the murders of Smith and Webb initially seemed swift. Wagner was tried in Blountville, Tennessee, convicted of murder on April 26, 1925, and sentenced to death by electrocution. However, the legal process was far from over. Wagner won an appeal for a new trial, but before it could commence, he cemented his reputation as an escape artist. On July 10, 1925, he and six other inmates overpowered guards and broke out of the Sullivan County Jail.
Wagner's life on the run continued his pattern of violence. He fled south, eventually killing at least two more men in Arkansas. In August 1926, he surrendered to a female sheriff in Texarkana, Arkansas, reportedly tired of being hunted. Instead of being tried for the Arkansas murders, he was extradited to Mississippi to face charges for the original killing of Deputy Sheriff Murdock McIntosh on Christmas Eve of 1924. He was convicted of that murder and sentenced to life in prison at the notorious Mississippi State Penitentiary, known as Parchman Farm.
William "Kinnie" Wagner’s criminal career was marked by repeated escapes and a trail of at least five confirmed victims across multiple states. Before his life of crime, he had been a sharpshooter in a traveling circus, a skill he used with deadly effectiveness. He would escape from Parchman twice more during his incarceration but was recaptured each time. His long and violent saga finally came to an end on March 9, 1958, when he died of a heart attack within the prison walls at the age of 55.
Patrolman John F. Smith was laid to rest in Pyles Cemetery in Sullivan County. His death, along with that of Deputy Webb, was described at the time as one of the most shocking tragedies in Kingsport's history. The loss left two families without their husbands and fathers, and a local newspaper reported that the two officers left behind a total of ten orphaned children between them. Today, Patrolman Smith's name is etched on the Kingsport Police Department Law Enforcement Memorial, a permanent tribute to his service and ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.
