Walter Gibbs, Not William Henry Gibbs, Died When the Rebecca Crashed at Coinjock Bridge, Feb. 22, 1926

Accident Victim Was Not Gibbs First Supposed. . . Captain of Virginia Dare, Who Assisted in Bringing Body Ashore, Gives Details of Tragedy. . . Not Gibbs He Knew. . . Masters of Sound and River Craft Suggest Installation of Bell as Means to Prevent Mishaps

Walter Gibbs of Englehard and not William Henry Gibbs, as was first supposed, apparently was the victim of Friday night’s accident at Coinjock Bridge, in Currituck County, when the gasboat Rebecca crashed into the draw as it was being raised, and wrecked her pilot house, crushing to death the steersman inside.

“The man killed was not the William Henry Gibbs that I knew,” stated Captain J.M. Richardson of the oil burner Virginia Dare, operated by the Elizabeth City Boat Line between this city and Norfolk. Captain Richardson, going north of his regular run, reached the bridge about the time of the accident, and helped carry ashore the victim.

In discussing the accident, Captain Richardson said today that the man killed bore no outward evidence of mortal injury, apparently having been crushed in the wreckage of the pilot house. Death was almost instantaneous after the crash, he declared, adding that Gibbs only gasped once or twice as he was being taken ashore.

Walter Gibbs is said to have been a brother of William Henry Gibbs. The latter Gibbs was employed for a number of years as a cook on various sound and river craft plying the waters. The man killed was apparently about 50 years old, according to Captain Richardson, who stated that the body was taken to Englehard on a small gasboat shortly after the accident.

Stirred by this mishap, and another almost identical which preceded it at the same bridge, shop masters here are suggesting that the Government should equip this and other drawbridges with a bell or gong so that when an approaching vessel signals for the opening of the draw, the bridge tender could answer the summons, thereby signifying that the draw was about to be opened. This, they argue, should serve materially to reduce the hazard of accidents like that which occurred Friday night.

From the front page of The Daily Advance, Feb. 22, 1926

newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92074042/1926-02-22/ed-1/seq-1/

The original story, giving the wrong identification of the victim, appeared in the Feb. 20th issue of The Daily Advance:

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