The first and only legal execution to occur in Alcorn county was the hanging of Henry S. Smith in the city of Corinth on the 18th of July 1881. Prior to March, 1880, Henry S. Smith and John Burt resided in the peaceful village of Burnsville, Tishomingo County. Lizzie Lowrey, a former resident of Chickasaw county, and who had been accused of hiring a negro to murder her husband, also lived in Burnsville. Smith and Burt were both suitors for the favors of the Lowrey woman.

On the 26th of March 1880, they loaded the woman into a two-ox wagon, the property of Burt, together with the personal effects of the the three parties, and started for some more congenial clime. After traveling some three or four miles the trio reached Yellow creek bottom, and finding a tree blown across the road, the two men secured an ax from the wagon and proceeded to clear the roadway. It being dark, Burt was holding a lantern while Smith wielded the ax. The demon of jealousy had long before taken possession of Smith, and this being the first favorable occasion, he killed Burt with the ax, the Lowrey woman being a witness to the killing.

Removing the obstruction from the road, Smith and the woman proceeded on their way, leaving the body of Burt where it had fallen. After the demise of Burt it occurred to the woman that she "loved him best", and at the first opportunity told of the murder. Smith was arrested and lodged in jail at Luka. At the time Judge J.A. Green was on the circuit bench of the district and at the instance of the counsel for the defendant granted a change of venue to Alcorn county. Smith was defended by Mr. Rasberry of West Point and Mr. Deavors of Iuka. The case was tried at Corinth and the jury returned a verdict of murder in the first degree.

The case was appealed to the supreme court and affirmed, and on the 18th day of July, 1881, Smith was executed at Corinth by Sheriff Frank Williams, the gallows being erected in the ravine north of the Memphis and Charleston trestle and south of west from the present residence of Mr. W.B. Wilson. The rope from which Smith was suspended was cut with a hatchett by the Sheriff at 12:25 p.m. and in twenty minutes Dr. Sanford and Young pronounced Smith dead.

Some four thousand people witnessed the hanging. The cost of the execution was paid by Tishomingo county, the rope used being of silk and costing $20. Smith was buried by Sheriff Williams and a guard placed over the grave, it having been rumored that the remains would be disinterred, but being closely watched for several days were allowed to rest in peace.
From the History of Old Tishomingo County Mississippi Territory