House That Kansas City Built: The True Story of Happy Smith, a Senseless Murder, and a City's Extrao

A traffic cop famous for nothing but kindness. A city that decided it owed him something. And a question the record still won't answer.

At 9:20 on the morning of June 14, 1928 - with the national press corps in Kansas City for the Republican National Convention - seven men walked into the Home Trust Company at 1119 Walnut and took $19,151.03. As their car sped north, a shotgun charge from the rear seat struck the patrolman standing at Eleventh and Walnut. He fired back as he went down. He was dead by six that evening.

His name was James Horace Smith. Everyone called him Happy.