J.L. Wells, Cigar Salesman, On Train When It Was Sideswiped Near Salisbury, April 18, 1921

Passenger Says He Was Knocked Down

“That was a great nightmare,” said J.L. Wells, cigar salesman, who awoke from a peaceful slumber to find himself sprawling in the aisle of the smoker when the freight train sideswiped Southern train No. 31 near Salisbury Monday morning.

“I had fallen asleep in the smoker,” continued Mr. Wells, “and had my head and shoulders leaning up against the window. I had just waked up and was stretching my arms when—rip! rip! bang! bang—and something hit my shoulder and knocked me out into the aisle. Powdered glass and splinters flew everywhere, cutting my face in several places. It was all over before anybody had time to comprehend what had happened.”

It was a swinging door on the freight train that did the work, said Mr. Wells. Both his train and the freight train were traveling at great speed, which made the combined speed about 90 or 95 miles an hour. Quick as a flash, Mr. Wells said, practically every window on the east side of the car in which he was riding was jammed in by the swinging door. The steel guards on the outside placed to avoid cinders were bend inward and several persons wee bruised and cut. None seriously, however.

“The worst affected person in my train,” said Mr. Wells, “was a woman who was riding in a pullman with a baby. Thinking perhaps the baby was hurt by the glass and splinters, she went into hysterics, and nobody was able to ease her. She went completely out of her mind for the time being, and the doctors who attended her said she was in a mighty bad condition when I left her.

“I am always afraid of something is going to happen when a freight train is passing, and I should have moved over to the other side of the train. It is the easiest thing in the world for a piece of protruding lumber or a swinging door to cause a smash-up like that. I’ll certainly look out for that kind of thing hereafter, and sit on the side away from passing trains.

From The Charlotte News, April 18, 1921

Passengers, Crew Suffer Minor Injuries When Two Passenger Trains Strike Open Door on Passing Freight Train, April 18, 1921

Passengers Are Hurt as Trains Strike Car Door. . . Four Are in Presbyterian Hospital, With None Dangerously Injured

An open door to a freight car sideswiped two Southern passenger trains at China Grove about 8:30 o’clock Monday, smashed a number of windows and slightly injured nine persons. Two of the injured are at the Presbyterian hospital, and the two injured negroes are at the Good Samaritan hospital, where they are reported as in no danger of serious developments. Others injured in the accident continued on their journey.

None of the injured persons lived in Charlotte, and two of the nine who were hurt are negroes.

The following is a complete list of the injured as given out by officials of the Southern here:

No. 31—Mrs. H.F. Seay, white, Lynchburg, Va., suffering from shock, apparently not injured.

T.B. Hamrick, white, Thomasville, N.C., piece of glass in eye and slightly cut left side of head.

Bob Price, white, Southern Railway, Spencer, N.C., left ear and side of head cut slightly.

Lucindi Mitchell, colored, residence, Columbia, S.C., slightly bruised left side of head and neck.

Will Mitchell, colored, Columbia, S.C., slightly cut on top of head.

All the above passengers were put off at Charlotte and sent to hospitals except Mr. Hamrick, who continued on his trip after an oculist removed the glass from his eye.

No. 137—Mrs. J.W. Bolling, white, age 37, Andrews, S.C., minor cuts on left hand.

J.W. Holman, white, aged 31, Lexington, N.C., slight cuts on left hand and left side of face.

Dr. Ira M. Hardy, white, age 45, Kinston, S.C., minor cuts about hands, face, neck and ears, slight bruises on left side of head.

W.H. Moor, white, aged 62, Atlanta, Ga., minor cuts on right hand.

All injured parties on 137 continued through to destinations, except Dr. Ira M. Hardy, who was stopping at Charlotte.

The two passenger trains in the accident are known as Nos. 31 and 137 and were running close together, moving south, with a freight train running north on the other track. Owing to the proximity of one of passenger train to the other, train men report it as having been impossible to check the rear train in time for it to avoid the accident.

An official report here said a swinging door to one of the freight cars apparently was blown open by the strong wind. Since the door struck some of the passenger cars and missed others, it was the conclusion here that the door was flapping to and fro as the train moved forward. The car to which the open door was attached was loaded with automobiles and was inspected at Landis, a station a short distance this side of the scene of the accident.

Dr. J.S. Hood of Kings Mountain, a physician of the Southern railway, was a passenger on train No. 137 and gave attention to the injured on his train. The other train was stopped at Kannapolis for attention to the injured, and the more seriously hurt were taken from train No. 31 when it arrived here and sent to the Presbyterian hospital.

The following is an official report of the accident:

“Just as northbound freight train No. 82 was passing No. 31 at China Grove this morning, one-half of door of an automobile car swung outward toward southbound track and struck side of combined passenger and baggage car, breaking off cinder defectors and glass in windows of this car and the next coach behind it.

“Five passengers sitting on the east side of these two cars were slightly injured by flying glass.

“This train was late on account of waiting for connection at Washington and was being followed one block by No. 137. Two coaches in this train were also scraped and four passengers slightly injured by broken glass.

“The accident is of an unusual character and is being investigated to ascertain the cause of the door becoming partially detached, but it was probably due to high wind prevailing at the time.

“The crew of the freight train was in proper position and had just made usual inspection passing Landis and every portion of the trains seemed to be intact.

From the front page of The Charlotte News, Monday evening, April 18, 1921

Parents Raising Brats, Says Editor of The Charlotte News, April 17, 1921

Parents, Obey Your Children!

Modernists are wiser in their generation than the fathers. The fathers believed, for instance, in a strict interpretation and application of the Fifth Commandment. The children of today believe that commandment had the situation backward and that it should have read this way, “Parents, obey your children”! And the ridiculous fact is that this is about what they are doing.

Those who are intent to discover the cause of much of the laxity in the morals of this generation need to search no further for the trouble. It lies in the elimination of proper home discipline. Children who grow up in disrespect of their parents, who have no regard for either their counsel or their commands, are the citizens of the future who will have neither respect for the laws of God or country. They are already lawless and their lawlessness will only become more emphatic when they step out later into the realm of citizenship.

It is not difficult to observe such a tendency in these days. What father or mother is there in Charlotte who is respected and obeyed by their children as they themselves respected and obeyed their fathers and mothers. There are none, we dare say. On the other hand, children are not only being allowed to run along in the ways of disobedience to parents, but they are actually unchallenged when they want to assert their own independence and exercise their own judgment. And many of them are mere brats of children, little tots who are literally shaping their own courses of action and giving their own slant to their future.

The lead editorial from The Charlotte News, Sunday morning, April 17, 1921

Baker's Coconut Ad From Ladies Home Journal, 1921

Will of Ross Spinsters Upheld, 1,400 Acres to Former Negro Servants, April 17, 1921

Ross Will Case Won by the Propounders

Monroe, April 16—The propounders of the will won the verdict in the celebrated Ross will case, which ended here this afternoon, the 15th day of the trial. The jury, which was out only 45 minutes, brought in a verdict that the late Maggie and Mary Ross, spinsters, were of sufficiently sound mind to dispose of their estate when they made a will leaving about 1,400 acres of land to former negro servants.

The trial was before Judge J. Bis Ray of the superior court.

The estate that furnished the basis for the suit is estimated as being worth about $100,000. The makers of the will left their entire estate, with the exception of about $10,000 given to charity, to the negroes mentioned in the will. These were a negro man and his wife and child, who had long lived on the Ross place.

From the front page of The Charlotte News, Sunday, April 17, 1921. $100,000 would be worth almost $1.5 million today.

B.H. Blalock Joins A.A. Knee in Charlotte Ford Dealership, April 17, 1921

Blalock and Knee Partners. . . Assistant to Ford Branch Manager Joins Veteran Charlotte Ford Dealer

Announcement that B.H. Blalock has associated himself with A.A. Knee, authorized Ford dealer at Charlotte, and that this agency will be operated as a partnership under the name of Knee & Blalock, was made yesterday by Mr. Knee.

Mr. Blalock resigned his position as assistant to Joseph W. Holt, manager of the Ford branch at Charlotte, to join with Mr. Knee in the sale of the products of the Ford Motor Company. Mr. Blalock came to Charlotte early in 1920 to assume the position he has just resigned. He joined the Ford organization at Nashville, Tenn., in 1915, being connected with the accounting and sales departments and later became traveling auditor, which position he held four years, severing that connection in March last year to come to Charlotte.

The concern with which Mr. Blalock has associated himself has had a very successful record under the guidance of Mr. Knee, who first became interested in Ford cars 10 years ago as a mechanic—in the days when Ford’s production was less than 50,000 cars annually. Later Mr. Knee became a Ford salesman and six years ago he went into business for himself at Gaffney, S.C. In 1916 he came to Charlotte at the invitation of the Ford Motor Company to take the agency here which he now has. He began his business career here on Fourth street near Church but removed within a few months to the building on South Tryon street he now has, plans for which were made before he came to Charlotte.

Regarding the formation of this partnership, Mr. Knee said:

“Starting in Charlotte in 1916 in a small way my business has grown to such an extent that it seems proper for me to obtain assistance, and I feel that I am particularly fortunate in securing an association with Mr. Blalock whose direct connection with the Ford Motor Company gave him experience that will add to the strength of my organization.”

Mr. Blalcok made the following statement regarding his new association:

“Before coming to Charlotte as assistant branch manager I was traveling auditor for the Ford Motor company and had visited Charlotte in that capacity on three different occasions. I always liked Charlotte and was gland when I was sent here as assistant to Mr. Holt, the branch manager. I have voluntarily severed the direct connection there with keen regret for they have been most pleasant.

“But as pleasantly situated as assistant branch manager, it seemed that I should accept the association with Mr. Knee, who is so well and favorably known in Charlotte, thus enabling me to become a permanent citizen in this city which I have learned to like so well.”

From The Charlotte News, Sunday, April 17, 1921

Former Gov. Bickett Pleads on Behalf of Negro, April 16, 1921

Bickett Pleads on Behalf of Negro

Hampton, Va., April 16—Thomas W. Bickett, former governor of North Carolina, declared Friday at the 53rd anniversary celebration of Hampton Institute that “the negro is entitled to equal and exact justice before the law and the white man must accord him that justice or be false to all those traditions that have made the Anglo-Saxon race the glory of the world.”

The former governor referred to Hampton Institute as a foundation and shrine “from which are constantly flowing streams that make waste places glad and attract pilgrims who come to Hampton for a new birth of courage, faith and love. The Ku Klux Klan believe in the whisper,” he said, “and that it why I rose up and hit it in North Carolina with all my might. The one safe path for the negro to follow is the path that leads straight to the door of the white man’s conscience.”

Dr. Talcott Williams of New York spoke on economic independence through industry and pointed out the important economic independence which is to be won through peace and harmony between the two races.

Front page of The Charlotte News, Saturday, April 16, 1921. The photo of Thomas W. Bickett is from the Library of Congress. Bickett would die the end of 1921 on December 28th.