Mrs. Edna Glenn, wife of Stamey Glenn of Greensboro, was drowned last night in the waters of South Buffalo creek about 9 o’clock when the car in which she was riding, driven by G.F. Alberti, revenue officer, plunged off the embankment at South Buffalo bridge on the Randleman road, near the residence of R.W.H. Stone, about two miles south of Greensboro.
Alberti escaped miraculously after a terrific struggle in which he fought his way through the water from underneath the car.
Mrs. Glenn’s body was recovered about midnight by a force of workers led by Sheriff D.F. Stafford and a number of police officers. She was still sitting in the front seat. Until that moment it was not known definitely what had become of her. From the moment the car shot over the embankment, Alberti said, he heard no word from Mrs. Glenn. It was hours later that hard work by the officers in dragging the car to the bank revealed the dead woman.
Alberti came to Greensboro after arousing neighbors and went straight to the police station. He was held there by orders of Captain Pearce pending an investigation. As the scene of the accident is outside the city limits, he was turned over to the sheriff. Further investigation will be made today.
He was driving to Greensboro with Mrs. Glenn, he told police officers. Fog about the creek prevented him from seeing clearly and when he thought he was heading straight across the bridge he had veered to the left. No one else was near. The car raced to the bank of the creek, which at this point is abrupt, almost a straight drop of some 15 feet to the water. Off this the car, a Hupmobile, plunged to the water, breaking through some timbers stuck in the edge of the creek. It turned completely over and dived into from five to eight feet of water, both occupants still in the front seat.
What Mrs. Glenn did no man knows, Alberti said he hear no word and recalls no movement. He himself was buried in wate over his head with the car on top. He fought for his life and managed to climb out from under. One rear wheel and part of the gas tank at the rear of the car were sticking out of the water. He clambered on the wheel and then tried, he says, to reach under to catch Mrs. Glenn. He couldn’t do it. “I tried with my arms and with my feet to feel for her,” he said.
Still clinging to the car, he says, he saw two automobiles pass over the bridge almost directly above his head. He called to both but got no answer. Then he got to the bank. It was dark and nobody was near. He went north along the road to the home of R.W.H. Stone and waked Mr. Stone and other members of the family. Other neighbors were called and a small group went to the creek. Lanterns showed the wheel sticking out of the water. The red tail light was still burning above the place where Mrs. Glenn was.
Alberti caught a passing car and came to Greensboro. He told officers at the police station of the accident and the policemen went out. Sheriff Stafford and Deputy Sheriff Mike Caffey were summoned and other neighbors came. Lights were flashed on the muddy waters of the creek. Ropes were obtained from nearby and the work of dragging the car to the bank was begun.
All this took time and it was around midnight, three hours after the accident, that the work was completed. The steepness of the banks made the task unusually difficult. The car was finally turned on its side in shallow water near the bank, and the body of Mrs. Glenn was seen still in the front seat. The door was opened and she was lifted out.
At the undertaking establishment of Poole and Blue it was said later that apparently there were no serious injuries and death must have come from drowning. During all the work of rescuing the body of Mrs. Glenn, Albert was at the police station. He said he had been in the Randleman neighborhood earlier in the day looking for a liquor car. Not finding the car he had started back to Greensboro. At John Gamble’s store, about 10 miles south of the city, he met Mr. and Mrs. Stamey Glenn. Mrs. Glenn said she wanted to get back to Greensboro and Alberti offered her a seat in his car. They left Mr. Glenn at the store. It was not raining at the time of the accident, but was misty. The fog at the creek, says Alberti, was very heavy. He doesn’t know why he missed the bridge. “I thought everything was all right until we plunged over,” he said. The tracks of the wheels leading to the edge of the embankment could be seen easily soon after the accident, though later automobiles and foot track obliterated them.
Mrs. Glenn was a young woman about 25 years old. Her husband who did not know of her death until hours later, has lived in and around Greensboro for some time. He has lately been farming in Sumner township, but both he and his wife spent a good part of their time at the East Lee street home of Mr. Glen’s father, Elmer Glenn.
From the front page of the Greensboro Daily News, December 18, 1922
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