The Annals of Murder

or, Was George Smith Jr. a millionaire or not?

We were as surprised as anyone to read that George Smith Jr. of Surfside, whose bludgeoned body was discovered a week ago on the beach, was a millionaire.

In the news business, one's status as a millionaire immediately ratchets up the interest in the eyes of reporters, and, more importantly, their editors.

In other words, if you have money and get murdered, it's more newsworthy than if you're just an average Joe and you get murdered. That's just the law of the jungle in the news business.

So after the lil' local paper did a story about George Smith Jr. the millionaire, the Houston daily did a piece on the life and times of George Smith Jr. that attempted to tug on the ol' heartstrings.

The Houston daily's headline called Smith a "maverick millionaire," then went on to paint a portrait of a man who was not only humble but dressed rather shabbily for a chap with so much dough in the bank (or buried behind the house, whatever the case may be.)

The trouble is, a person purporting to be George Smith Jr.'s daughter appended a comment to the Chronicle's online story saying her late father was far from a millionaire.

If he was why would we set up an account for his minor children asking for donations to help them out???!! I spent all my life wishing we had more money, cause if we did, my Dad would not have worked himself to the bone living paycheck to paycheck!! He dressed like an average man because he was one!! No richer than any average human, and actually a lot poorer than most!!

wrote "Scarlet Sunset Sears."

For the record, it should be noted that the lil' local paper was the first to describe Smith as a millionaire, and their sole source for that information apparently was Larry Davison, the former Surfside mayor who often was at loggerheads with the outspoken Smith.

“George was a pretty shrewd businessman. He owned some really valuable properties and sold off some businesses, like the Burgersmith and the Lookout Club,” Davison said. “You couldn’t tell by looking at him, but George was a millionaire.” [link]

Now, we don't know what Davison based his description of Smith on, cause, really, who knows what who's worth, unless you work for the IRS?

But since the media felt obliged to tell the reading public that George Smith Jr. was a millionaire, and a person purporting to be George Smith Jr.'s daughter took the trouble to write in to the Chronicle and dispute that notion, we'd say the media is duty bound to get to the bottom of the question by combing through any and all public records to answer the question once and for all.

For our part, all we can report is we were once in Smith's restaurant when it was a going concern, a hell of a long time ago as we recall, and we came away with the impression that it was a bit of a rat trap. If Smith made any sizeable portion of his alleged million dollar estate out of the Burgersmith operation, it'd be a gawdam miracle ( although we reckon the real property valuation of that eatery was worth a pretty penny, though with capital gains taxes being what they are even with changes made during the Republican swing in the pendulum, any windfall would have been eaten up without heeding the advice of a savvy tax attorney.)

As for Smith himself, he seemed to be a likeable fellow and we're sorry that his life was taken. When they find the dirty dogs who murdered him, we can only pray they will soon swing from the nearest cottonwood tree.