Truck Crashes Into Folks in Front Yard Killing Jimmy Hill, 13, and Injuring 5 Others, June 25, 1922

Truck Kills One and Injures Five Others. . . Jimmy Hill, 13 Years Old, Killed Near Kinston When a Truck Ran Into Group

Kinston, June 24—One person was killed and five injured late today when a West Construction Company truck laden with negro paving laborers left the road at Smith’s crossing, 12 miles from here, and crashed into a group of visitors in the front yard of a country home.

The dead, Jimmy Hill, 13 years of age. The injured, Mrs. Julia Smith, elderly woman, possibly fatally hurt; Nathan Hill, Mrs. Nathan Hill, Mercy Hill and Ernest Hill. The dead boy was a stepson of Nathan Hill, and was a neighborhood pet.

Tonight Smith Crossing was divided between anger and tears. The negroes fled from the scene, the driver was among them, but he was not identified. Threats of violence were heard in the vicinity, but authorities believed the driver had gotten out of the neighborhood. Residents said the heavy truck was being driven at a rapid speed when the driver lost control.

From the front page of the Greensboro Daily News, June 25, 1922