Friday, April 7, 2023

'My God, Why Didn't We Stop,' Says Miss Weathers Before She Died, April 7, 1923

Three Killed in Crossing Wreck. . . Freight Train Strikes Light Automobile Near Fuquay Springs

By the Associated Press

Raleigh, N.C., April 6—John Henry Weathers, prosperous farmer, his wife and Miss Irene Weathers, their 16-year-old adopted daughter, were killed this afternoon when their light automobile was struck by a Norfolk Southern freight train at Fuquay Springs, 20 miles from here.

Miss Weathers, who was driving, was horribly mangled but was rushed to a Raleigh hospital where she died at 7:45 o’clock, three hours after the accident occurred. Her foster parents were killed outright.

The half dozen or more witnesses of the accident differ as to the manner, some holding that the automobile stopped dead on the track in front of the approaching train, others maintaining that while the automobile was moving slowly it did not stop. All are agreed that the flagman was blowing a whistle as the train backed upon the automobile.

“My God, why didn’t we stop; they were blowing for us,” were the first words of Miss Weathers in a brief period of consciousness, according to H.H. Trotti, an employee of a Raleigh clothing store, who witnessed the tragedy.

From the front page of the Durham Morning Herald, April 7, 1923

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