What is Mr. Smith's importance in the novel, Too Late the Phalarope?

Smith is presented as an example of how seriously the Immorality Act of 1927 was taken in Venterspan. Having impregnated one of his servant girls, he panicked because he knew that it would be obvious that he fathered the child. To avoid both punishment and shame, he and his wife murdered the girl, cutting off her head so the body could not be identified if discovered. The crime, when discovered, resulted in Smith's trial, conviction, and sentence of death by hanging.