In the winter of 1922, the community of Morrilton, Arkansas, was irrevocably altered by a violent sequence of events that led to the death of one of its own, Deputy Sheriff Granville Edward Farish. A male resident of Conway County, Farish was a married father of five children. His life was cut short in an encounter that spiraled into a grim chapter of local history.
On the afternoon of Saturday, December 9, 1922, Deputy Farish approached a man named Less Smith in an attempt to settle a debt Smith owed to a local merchant. The interaction escalated, and Smith shot Farish in the abdomen. Despite being gravely wounded, Farish attempted to return fire, but his weapon jammed. News of the shooting spread quickly through the town, and a sense of unease began to build.
Less Smith was promptly arrested and taken into custody. However, public sentiment was already hardening against him. As word of Deputy Farish's critical condition circulated, a mob of over one hundred men formed with the clear intent of taking matters into their own hands. Law enforcement officers, fearing for Smith's safety, attempted to transport him to the state penitentiary in Little Rock. They did not get far. A group of armed men intercepted the transport a short distance from the jail, overpowering the officers and seizing Smith.
The mob drove Smith several miles out of Morrilton, where they hanged him from a tree and shot his body multiple times. Back in Morrilton, Granville Edward Farish lingered through the night. He regained consciousness around midnight but slipped into a coma and succumbed to his wound on the morning of Sunday, December 10, 1922. The county coroner later determined that Farish died from the gunshot wound inflicted by Less Smith, and that Smith's death was at the hands of unknown persons.
