The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-05-26
DEAD BODY EXHyMED
Suit Against Seaboard for
Negro's Death.
Seaboard officials Deny Trying to Conceal Dead
Mans Identity and Tried TO Dis
cover H.

A proposed damage suit against the
seaboard Air Line with sensational be-
ginning has had a start in Raleigh.
The dead body of the young negro
killed on the night of the 18th at Merry
Oaks was exhumed here yesterday 1t
had been buried in Mount Hope GENE
terry.
yes, that's the body Of my son" said
mond 81 recognize him and the clothes
he has on are the clothes that he had
on when he left home His name is
Oscar Little.
The body was that which the Seaboard
had brought here on the afternoon of
the 18th as Negro, unknown, aged 49,"
The man was killed in the freight wreck
at Merry Oaks, when a wheel broke on
one car and the others piled on it. The
head was mutilated when the body was
found and the remains were sent back
to Raleigh in the afternoon.
Both the father and the mother of the
dead negro are in Raleigh, the father
coming from Richmond and the mother
from Monroe 1t is their claim that the
Seaboard authorities failed to take proper
steps to learn the identity of the de-
ceased, refused to let the body be exam
med by men who said they thought they
knew him, and buried the body without
giving his friends a chance to look at it.
All these claims the seaboard people en-
phatically deny.
The mother whose name is Fanny Poke
yhO ~, CHI
eeiyed an anonymous letter telling her
that her son had been killed by the rail
read. the writer saying that he was EN-
ployed by the road and would not reveal
his name She received a pass sent her
from Raleigh, came here and further says
that she received no consideration from
the Seaboard authorities.
She wrote to her husband from Mon
roe and he came from Richmond. They
claim to have received information that
Bible was taken from her sons body
at Merry Oaks, that he had been EN-
ployed by the road, that three negroes
said he was riding on top of the cars
and had been allowed to dead-head his
way from Richmond to Monroe. She says
also that negroes In Raleigh, who thought
they knew the deceased were not allowed
Raleigh to identify the man.
She and her husband employed attors
neys here and yesterday Sanitary Officer
Sale granted permit to have the body
exhumed. Before this was uone old man
Poke gave to Justice of the Peace Reid
a description of the clothes his son had on
when he left home. When the coffin was
opened the description was found to tally
IL mt "a &f,,,,,r al
negroes present identified the body as that
of Oscar Little and a suit for damages
for his death will be began against the
Seaboard as soon as an administrator is
named.
Superintendent Towseley, Train Master
Winters and Train Dispatcher Gore were
interviewed about the matter. They say
the facts are that the ROAD did all in
it's power to discover the identity of the
man killed and then gave his body de
cent burial.
The body, they said, had been found
after the wreck and the indications were
that the man had been stealing a ride in
a coal car. A new paper-covered hymn
book was found near the body with no
name in it. The men at the wreck said
they did not know the man. Instructions
were sent to Raleigh to give the body de-
cent burial, and this was done by Browns
Coffin House.
Some time after Poke came from Rich
mond. He called on Superintendent
Towseley and said he thought the dead
man was his wife's son, that he knew he
had been ''beatinga ride, and that he
had nothing against the road but that his
wife would be consoled by seeing her
sons grave Hearing this Superintendent
Towseley had a pass sent to her at Mon
rec
The Seaboard officials hold that they
did all that was possible to discover the |
identity of an unknown negro killed in
an accident on their road, failed to dis
cover whom he was and had him buried |
Poke and his wife say it was her son,
Oscar Little, who was killed, that he had
worked with the road, was allowed to
dead head" his way to Monroe, was
killed in the wreck and without allowing |
friends to try to identify him was brought |
to Raleigh and buried.