Durham, Aug. 23—Colonel James Marks Williams, coast artillery, United States Army, of 525 Perry Street, Montgomery, Ala.; his wife Mrs. Anna M. Williams, and Miss Ann Williams, also of Montgomery, were instantly killed shortly after 8 o’clock tonight, when Southern Railway passenger train No. 22 struck an automobile in which they were riding, at a grade crossing three miles west of the city.
The accident occurred at a crossing on a detour from the national highway between Durham and Greensboro. The automobile, it was said, was moving slowly, the detour being rough. The train, two hours late, is reported to have been moving rapidly. The automobile, sedan style, centered the trac when the crash occurred.
With the combined wreckage of the automobile and the engine’s pilot scattered from either side of the train went some distance beyond the crossing before it was brought to a stop.
The train crew picked up the bodies of Colonel Williams and the two women and placed them in the baggage car. Reports had it that a negro driver was also in the car. No trace of another person could be found, however.
When the bodies were placed aboard the train, Colonel Williams is said to have shown signs of life. He was dead when the train reached Durham. Aside from a cut on his right hand Colonel Williams’ body was without a side of injury. His left leg was broken, however, near the ankle.
Mrs. Williams’ head was crushed. Otherwise her body was not mutilated. Miss Williams’ body bears cuts and abrasions, but is not mutilated.
The victims of the accident were taken from the local station to an undertaking establishment to await information from Montgomery as to disposition.
From the front page of The Wilmington Morning Star, Thursday, August 24, 1922
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