The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1911-07-20

soul scanning cries for help from me-
in Dreadful distress ascending unhear,
to a star-strewn sky-a painted moo
~indiferently gazing upon a monstrous
black overturned engine OF deaf
with limp, lifeless things lying horrl
bly crumpled underneath its tons o
weight which had hurriedly hasteneC
two souls to face their Maker-th1s
the tale of a dreadful tragedy of tn
night happening just outside OF Hen
Jacksonville, which resulted in the
slow death of two members of an au'
tomobile party, the injuring of two
others, and the shocking of the entire
community.
THE DEAD:
Miss/Lemie Bowman, Sumter, S. c
Mr.. B. w. Belts, Jr., Trenton, S. G
THE INJURED:
Miss Mable. Bowman, severely
bruised.
The other occupants of the car, who
escaped serious injury were:
Mr.. P. G. Bowman, Sumter, S. G.
Miss Mary Pitts.
Mr.. w. Hammond Bowman, son OF
Mrs. P. G. Bowman, Sumter, s. g.
Miss Jennette Henry, Sumter, S. G.
Miss Rosa Sharfson, Allendale, S. G.
MI. Belts and Miss Bowman, one of
the most beautiful and charming
girls ever visiting Hendersonville, met
death on Wednesday night of last
week on the Asheville road, al
most opposite the Balfour depot,
when their sixty-horse power Rambler
automobile went down the eight-foot
high embankment there, turned COM
pletely over and crushed out their
lives.
With Mr.. Belts, the dead owner of
the car. and seven others, the merry
partq left Lake View Hotel that night
at 11:15. They had been invited
guests to the opening ball given at
the hotel and there had spent a de-
lghtful evening-leaving the bril-
Hantly illuminated ball room, the
soul-stirrirg strains of the orchestra
playing -. the dance to but meet a
horrible death in the. dark twenty
minutes later.
Mr.. Belts was driving the machine.
At the scene of the catastrophe he
Imagined he saw a wagon in front Of
him-He swerved the automobile too
close to the bank of the road-the
condition of the road bed shows the
efforts he made to regain control Of
the car-but death vas riding with
him, and closer and closer to the
brink went the illfated machine until
it careened and toppled completely
over
A four-strand barbed wire fence is
at the bottom of the bank, and a few
big rocks. The machine rested at the
foot of the fill. Mr.. Belts and Miss
Bowman were seated in front, and
we're pinioned underneath the seat.
Almost two hours later when taken
from the wreck there was not a mark
Or a scar on the body or face of the
1ady-she was ~suffocated slowly to
death j..
y 1:Mr. Belts back was broken. His
face was covered with blood and a
slow stream oozed from his mouth.
The weight of the front part of the
heavy car rested ~squarely across him
aRS the end must have come quickly
and m%ercifully.
Four others were huddled together
I'm a heap in the back part of the car.
Two of the party were thrown. clear
OF the wreck as it toppled over, and
one crawled out after it had turned
turtle and stopped.
. Their shrieks for help were heard
mile away through the GREATNESS
night and soon help came. Rufe
within possibly half a mile of the
scene of the accident, were first there.
They were almost helpless to lift the
tremendous weight of the. car and
Powell raj sent scurrying for more
nrGfC%a ~ VXYS&Is~E -L@1 L---
sweating and painting men were there,
but although each worked as though
possessed of ten ordinary mems
strength it was still the work of an
hour and a half to lift the car and re-
move the dead and the living from
their tomb.
Carriages and dead wagons were
there, then, too. Those past all help
we're taken to Shepherds undertake
ing rooms. The living were removed
to their homes.
The machine is not seriously dam
aged. The clock in the car stopped
at 11:35-when time ended for two of
the cars occupants. 1t was the pur-
pose of Mr.. Belts to drive to the top
Oh the hill, about six hundred yards
beyond where the accident occurred,
there to turn and return home.
Thinking he saw a team in front of
him. and anxious to give the driver
his full half of the road, he pulled too
close to the side of the eight-foot I'LL,
the machine seemed to refuse to n
gwer in the soft dirt and over the EN-.
bankment it went. The engine had
been shut off before the car went
ever. 1t rests squarely on the ground
with all four wheels in the air.
On the barbed wire fence against
which the machine crushed are frag-
Haents of woman's dress. A few
matches were found on the ground
and splintered glass from the cars
wind shield.
Both Mr.. Belts and Miss Bowman