Baggett and Washburn Children Injured in Two-Car Collision, July 27, 1920

From the Dunn Dispatch, July 27, 1920

Children Injured When Cars Smash at Ellis Avenue. . . Two Baggett Children and Little Washburn Girl Are Hurt. . . Venerable Baggett Blamed for Accident

Three children were injured, a telephone pole knocked down, a tree badly scarred and two automobiles seriously battered when the two machines collided at Broad Street and Ellis Avenue today at noon.

None of the children is seriously injured, although all of them are badly bruised. They are:
Winnifred Baggett, bruised about the body.

Martha Washburn, bruised about the shoulders and head.

J.W. Baggett, bruised about the head.

All of the children live in Lillington. The Baggett tots are children of John Rob Baggett. The little Washburn girl is a daughter of Mrs. Washburn who conducts the hotel in Lillington.

Venerable S. Baggett, youthful son of John Rob Baggett, was driving the car in which the children were riding. He is blamed by eye-witnesses and Carl Parrish, driver of the other car, for the accident. He was arrested this afternoon by Chief Page on a charge of speeding, but was admitted to bail for his apparance in Judge Godwin's court Thursday morning.

According to the story told by Parrish, who lives in Johnston County, he was coming along Ellis Avenue at about 8 miles an hour, preparing to turn into Broad Street, when he saw the other car coming at great speed. He made a wide turn to permit the other car to pass, he said, but just as he did so young Baggett seemed to lose his head and veered to the left, striking his car aboutits middle and shoving it against the telephone pole. The force of the blow was so great that the phone pole was snapped at its base and fell as a straw.

Baggett's car was stopped by a tree. Its front end was badly smashed, but it was able to move under its own power after it was extricated. The Parrish car, a Ford, suffered no serious injury beyond the smashing of a running board and fender.

All of the injured children were taken to the home of Judge and Mrs. Jesse Franklin Wilson whither they were bound for a brief visit.