Norlina Men Killed When Car Overturns, Aug. 26, 1924

Two Norlina Men Killed in Wreck Near Henderson. . . Met with Instant Death. . . C.L. Wiggins and L.H Hilliard of Norlina Were Badly Crushed and Car Completely Demolished Early Yesterday Morning Near Tar River; Machine Skidded Over Embankment; Bodies Pinned Under Wreckage

C.L. Wiggins and Lawrence H. Hillard, two young men of Norlina, met with almost instant death early Sunday morning when the large automobile in which they were riding skidded off the road and turned turtle on the Henderson-Raleigh highway, about 12 miles from Henderson, near Tar River bridge.

The accident occurred on a sharp curve and it was thought that they were taking the turn at a high rate of speed, the machine skidding from the road over an embankment and landing on its side in a field.

The accident must have happened between 30 and 5 o’clock [around 5:30], according to information received in Henderson, the two men stopped at a filling station for gas and oil at 4:30, and it was about a 30 minutes’ drive to the scene of the accident. Although the wreck was not discovered until nearly 6 o’clock, when a negro farmer who lived nearby noticed the overturned machine.

The darky, however, claims he did not see the accident when it happened. When he went to investigate when he noticed the overturned machine in the field.

Wiggins and Hillard were both pinned beneath the car, which was on its side, and the bodies were still warm when the negro first viewed the wreckage. An alarm was sounded by passersby and a large crowd soon gathered at the scene and the machine was turned upright and the bodies taken from the wreckage and examined.

Both bodies were badly crushed, scarred and lacerated but it was the opinion of a Louisburg physician who was called to the scene, that they died as a result of internal injuries. Hilliard’s stomach was ripped wide open which is thought to have been done by the steering wheel, as it was said it was his machine and he was driving.

The bodies were picked up and taken to a Henderson undertaking establishment where they were prepared for burial and later sent to Norlina They were both well known around Louisburg and Henderson, being railroad men, and were said to between the age of 22 and 25. Both were single.

The news of the accident spread like wildfire and in a short time the scene of the accident was visited by hundreds of people during the course of the day. The wreckage was removed to Henderson late in the afternoon.

From the front page of the Wilson Times, Tuesday, August 26, 1924. Last name spelled Hilliard and Hillard.

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