Mrs. Julia Jennings, 74 years old, was killed Tuesday morning at 6:45, while crossing the railroad at Beech street crossing by passenger train Number Four, the early morning train from Raleigh.
Mrs. Jennings was on her way to the Elizabeth City cotton Mill where she has worked for 28 years. She was almost across the track when struck by the train and dragged about 75 feet. Her arm and leg were broken and her head badly bruised. She was dead when help reached her.
The last whistle for work at the mill had just sounded and Mrs. Jennings was hurrying to get to her job. Either she did not hear or see the train, or else she thought she could get safely across before it reached her. She had just taken the first step down off the crossing and one step lay between her and safety.
At that moment, according to eyewitnesses, the train struck, throwing her body two or three feet into the air.
Mrs. Jennings was the oldest employe of the Elizabeth City Cotton Mill and the only operative who had been in its employ from the day the mill began operations 28 years ago. She it was who tied up the first end on a spooling frame on the day the mill started and she was still, according to her foreman, L.W. Becknall, despite her years, one of the most faithful, efficient and regularly working operatives in the plant.
She is survived by a sister, Mrs. A. Staples of Riverside avenue; a daughter, Mrs. Canny Haynes of Shiloh, and two sons, Marshal Jennings of Princess Anne, Va., and Wesley Jennings of Wallaceton, Va.
From the front page of The Daily Advance, Elizabeth City, N.C., Jan. 23, 1923
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