The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-05-26
dead BODY EXHUMED
Suit Against Seabaard for
Negro's Death.
seaboard Officials Deny Trying to Conceal Dead
Mans Identity and Tried to Dis
cover II.

A proposed damage suit against the
Seaboard Air Line with a 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.
Eyes, that's the body of my SON." said
old man Lilies, who had come from Rich
mond. Il 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 u.s."
The man was killed in the freight wreck
at Merry Oaks, when q wheel broke on
one car and the others piled on 1t. The
head was mutilated when the body was
found and the remains We're 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 4 chance to look at it.
All these claims the Seaboard people en-
phatically deny.
The mother whose name is Fanny Poke
and who lived in Monroe, says she re
ceived an anonymous letter telling her
that her son had been killed by the rail
800 l. x,,,4o ,-o that no uoC on,
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
a 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
to have the coffin opened after 1t reached
Raleigh TO identify the a
She and her husband employed attor-
| neys here and yesterday Sanitary Officer
Sale granted a 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
| exactly. The father and mother and other
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
I Winters and Train Dispatcher Gore were
J interviewed about the matter. They say
| the facts are that the ROAD did all IN
its power to discover the identity Of the
man killed and then gave his body a 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 III 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 ''beating''a ride, and that he
had nothing against the road, but that his
wife would be console1 by seeing heI
sons grave. Hearing this Superintendent
Towseley had a pass sent to her at Mon
roe.
The Seaboard officials hold that they
did all that vas 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.