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Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Manslaughter Charges Against William Bethune Following Car Accident, April 5, 1923

Two Killed; Six Injured in Auto Wreck. . . State College Student Is Released on $1,000 Bond, Manslaughter Charge

Raleigh, April 2—William Bethune, State College student, is being held under bond of $1,000 for manslaughter, William Naylor, orchestra violinist and Robert Chappell, law student of Raleigh, are dead and six injured as the result of an automobile collision early this morning on Hillsboro Street.

Young Bethune’s bond was given by his father, President L.A. Bethune of the Bank of Clinton, whose machine the college boy was driving with six friends early this morning after a practice of the Dixie Serenaders, a playing organization to which most of the young fellows belonged. Young Chappell, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Chappell, was coming into the Hillsboro Street intersection with Park Drive and was alone in a Ford roadster. The seven-passenger Packard struck the smaller machine at high speed and reduced it to wires and splinters. The heavy car turned over and over, throwing the boys out, killing Naylor instantly. Young Chappell died nine hours later.

The police preferred charges of manslaughter against Bethune who left the hospital under bond and returned to Clinton today. The charges are based on alleged recklessness of the driver who was going at a tremendous speed, according to the warrant. The occupants of the car could not tell today what rate of speed the Chappell car was making. Younger, who was sitting on the rear seat and thrown out, said he saw the Ford as the two came together. The breaks on the big car showed that they did all they could with the load they carried.

From the front page of The Lincoln County News, Lincolnton, N.C., April 5, 1923

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