1942 — Oct 3, gasoline tanker, hay wagon and bus collision, explosion ~Lumberton, NC– 12

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 6-2-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

—     12  The Robesonian, Lumberton, NC. “Seven Bodies Claimed in Wreck.” 10-5-1942, p. 1.

–11-12  Gastonia Daily Gazette (NC). “Eleven Dead…Crash Near Lumberton,” Oct 3, 1942, p1.

—      11  Legeros.  North Carolina Deadliest Disasters Database.

Narrative Information

Oct 3: “Lumberton, N.C., Oct. 3 – (AP) – An early morning collision involving a gasoline tanker, a Queen City Trailways bus, and a wagon on U.S. highway 301 16 miles north of here was believed to have claimed the lives of at least 11 persons and left 18 injured.  The crash occurred about 5:30 a.m., survivors said, when the gasoline tanker, travelling north toward Fayetteville, and a wagon collided.  The tanker swerved part way across the highway and ploughed into the heavily-loaded Trailways bus, which was headed south toward Lumberton. The tanker exploded immediately, causing the bus and tanker both to burst into flames.

“J. L. Stephens, Jr. a Lumberton ambulance driver, who arrived at the scene of the crash about 6 a. m., told this story of the accident.

“When another ambulance driver and I got there about six o’clock the tanker and bus were still burning fiercely, and we couldn’t tell whether there was anybody in the bus. Those who had managed to clear themselves of the burning wreck had already been carried away in automobiles to hospitals in Lumberton.

“We waited around until the flames died down so we could enter the frame of the bus. There wasn’t much left to any of the bodies, mostly the vertebrae. We picked up eleven vertebraes, but there may be others scattered in the wreckage.

“The driver of the bus was sitting under the steering wheel.  In one scat near the front a woman with a small child had been sitting and we found the child in her arms.”

“Stephens said one of the survivors told him he broke out glass windows of the bus and was able to rescue four or five before the flames spread to the rear of the bus.  He said a Negro redcap who worked at the bus station in Lumberton was on the bus and was able to escape but that he later burned to death in a nearby field.

“Bodies from the charred wreckage were carried to the city court room of St. Pauls, a small village near where the wreck occurred….

“The driver of the bus was identified as Lawrence R, Barbee of Greensboro, but bus station officials at Fayetteville, where the bus made its last stop, could not identify any of the passengers.  However. Manager Herlocker of the Fayetteville bus station, said there were a number of sailors, marines and defense workers aboard. He said there were 33 persons on the bus when it left Fayetteville, but that some may have left the bus before it readied the scene of the crash.

“Reconstructing the crash, from information provided by survivors, Stephens said the tanker apparently was unable to stop when it came up behind the wagon…. Dr. A.L. Cornwell of Baker’s Sanitarium said that Stinson Branch, driver of the tanker, told him that he drove up behind the wagon that it was not lighted and for that reason he did not see it in time to stop. Branch, Dr. Cornwell continued, said that he swerved to the left to avoid hitting the wagon and crashed into the bus….” (Gastonia Daily Gazette (NC). “Eleven Dead…Crash Near Lumberton,” Oct 3, 1942, p. 1.)

Oct 5, Robesonian: “Seven of the twelve that perished in the flaming three-way wreck early Saturday morning 12 miles north of Lumberton on U.S. Highway 301 involving a Queen City Trailways bus, a cotton-loaded wagon, and a gasoline tanker, are known after more than 48 hours of unceasing efforts by local officials to determine the names of the 10 badly burned bodies removed from the wreckage of the bus. They are:

Lawrence R. Barbee, Burlington, N.C., driver of the bus.

Mrs. Harry L. Darden, Greensboro, N.C., passenger.

Mathew Parsons, colored porter, Lumberton.

Erwin B. Ayers, 32, Nichols, S.C., passenger.

H.A. Paxton, Whiteville, U.S. Navy stationed at Raleigh, N.C.

John Henry Land, 36, Chadbourn, N.C., passenger.

“Stinson Branch, who was the driver of the gasoline-loaded tanker headed north from Lumberton to Fort Bragg died last night at 11:30 at Baker sanatorium. He was conscious yesterday and Saturday but suffered a relapse shortly before his death last night.

“The condition of C. C. Price of Lumberton was said by attendants at Baker sanitorium this afternoon to be ‘very good’ and that Mr. Price was ‘resting comfortably’. Mr. Price was a passenger on the bus….” (The Robesonian, Lumberton, NC. “Seven Bodies Claimed in Wreck.” 10-5-1942, p. 1.)

Sources

Gastonia Daily Gazette, NC. “Eleven Dead In Highway Crash Near Lumberton,” Oct 3, 1942, p. 1, col. 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=77019042

Legeros, Mike. North Carolina Deadliest Disasters Database. 8-18-2009 update. Accessed at:  http://www.legeros.com/history/nc/disasters.shtml

The Robesonian, Lumberton, NC. “Seven Bodies Claimed in Wreck.” 10-5-1942, p. 1. Accessed 6-2-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/robesonian-oct-05-1942-p-1/