Raymond Reed, 33, Killed in Fall Off of Truck Bed, April 5, 1923

Shelby, March 23—Raymond Reed, 33-year-old negro who was a tenant on the J.H. Anthony plantation, six miles east of Shelby, fell from one of the heavy trucks belonging to the highway construction force on the Shelby-Kings Mountain road yesterday afternoon and received injuries from which he died three hours later. The heavy truck was going toward Buffalo Creek from Shelby and the negro was returning home when he asked the driver for a ride and seated himself on the bed of the truck. When the truck swerved on the road to pass an oncoming automobile, Reed fell off, the wheel passing over his body, crushing his legs and injuring his head.

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