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Thursday, November 7, 2019

Sunday Was Awful, Beginning and Ending With Fires and A 16-Year-Old Struck by Train in Afternoon, Reported Nov. 7, 1919

From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, Friday afternoon, Nov. 7, 1919

Fires and Death. . . Two Fires in Rockingham Last Sunday, and a White Youth Killed by Circus Train

Last Sunday was ushered in by a fire; there was a tragic killing of a young man by a train shortly after noon, and the day closed with still another fire—a trinity of unfortunate events.

Fire at Great Falls

The fire alarm sounded at 8:30 Sunday morning, a cottage in the Great Falls village occupied by C.C. Powell being on fire. The building was practically destoryed, the family savng about all their effects, however.

Boy Killed by Train

Rarely has a more tragic death occurred in the county than that of Roland Scarborough at 1:25 Sunday afternoon. He was run over and killed by the third section of the Ringling circus train, which was going from Raleigh to Charlotte. The accident was about 300 yards east of the depot; the youth, who was about 16 years old, was dragged nearly 100 feet, one foot cut off, a gash in his neck, and he was partly disemboweled.

Coroner A.M. Smith held an inquest shortly afterwards, with the following jury: R.A. Kendall, F.W. Maurice, J.B. Melton, John Fields, L.B. Brady, A.B. Allen. The version of the witnesses was that the youth was apparently running down the track when hit. It is thought he lost his wits when he discovered the train was near him and instead of getting off the track he ran down it and of course was overtaken by the oncoming train.

He had just returned on the Shoofly train from Charlotte at 1 o’clock and was walking up the track to his uncle’s at Entwistle Mill when he met the train and the accident occurred.

The remains were prepared for burial by Watson-King, undertakers, and Monday shipped to his home at Darlington, S.C., where his father, Rev. B.A. Scarborough, lives. The youth has an uncle, M.L. Scarborough, living at Entwistle Mill. The boy had been living in the county only a couple of weeks or so and had not gone to work.

Hundreds of the morbid and curious visited the scene of the death Sunday afternoon and viewed the torn-up body.

Fire Sunday Afternoon

The second fire of the day occurred Sunday night at 7:45, that of the two-story house belonging to and occupied by J.H. Floyd, principal of the colored school. The flames had enveloped the building before the alarm was sounded, but the response by the fire truck was especially quick. The water pressure was good, and by quick work the volunteer fighters saved the adjoining building and the walls of the Floyd building. Coming just at the church hour, the big blasé brought out hundreds of spectators.

And right here the Post-Dispatch will state a fact that is noteworthy in connection with the spirit between the two races in Rockingham. The efforts of the white fire-fighters Sunday night, all of them in their best clothes, to save the home of this colored citizen was just as heroic and hard as though it were the home of the wealthiest white citizen. When the fire alarm sounds our white people respond quickly and whole-heartedly, whether it be for white or black. Danger draws no color line with our people. And this is as it should be.


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