Car Accidents While at HHS

Car Accidents

I just read over Terry Crowell's piece and if you have not read it, go back one or two posts and read it. She covers so much. Actually, if you ever get one her emails, they are about as long.  Informative as she takes a long time between emails!

My wife used to have an Aunt that lived in the country of Missouri. Aunt Dean was her name and her husband was Uncle Ruby. What a pair. Anyhow Aunt Dean used to write us a two or three page letter and it was all one sentence. She talked about everyone from the mail man to the gas station attendant just like we knew them all!  What a gas!

Anyhow...back to my memories and my car accidents.

Accident One

My first one was actually on a Vespa scooter. You could get a license to drive one of these at 14. This was much faster than the mopeds we have now. Mine would go nearly 60 mph.  A lot of guys in the early 60s had these. About 64 and 65, the Honda and Suzuki mini motorcycles came out and that was the end of scooters.

One day after school I was up on Catchall Tower Road, between Hillcrest and Shaw. I was visiting a female classmate who moved away soon after this. I remember her last name was Edwards, and she had a younger brother, but Chappie probably remembers her name. So I left her place in '63 and was flying down the road towards 441. I was going about 45 ( fast for a 14 year old) and came over a hill and saw that 441 was coming fast. I hit my breaks and the scooter fell on its side and I skidded right through the stop sign , across 441 into the ditch on the other side.  Not hurt too bad, but one of the times my pants needed cleaning afterwards. Have not told this to anyone!

Accident Two
      I was dating Marian Jackson at the time. She lived way out between Horatio and Stateburg. I had to come into the town of Horatio to get home. One night after a good date somewhere...maybe Big Jims, I was coming home kinda late and after getting through Horatio, I hit the gas in my beautiful white '55 Chevy, when I noticed a strange light up above in the shadows of the trees. I did not slow down until I got a little closer. It was pitch dark out there, just this kinda flashing light. At the last minute, I realized that it was a train light that was moving back and forth from the engine ahead.

      I slammed on the breaks and my truck skidded sideways down the middle of the road and the train lights were getting brighter. My truck stopped parallel to the tracks about four feet from them. Just then the train went flying by. It must have been a 40 car train and I just sat there in wet pants again and shook all over. Might have been my closest to death ever and maybe until now. Did not tell my parents ever. Really scared the Shit out of me. I had never, never seen a train on these tracks for years and now there are no trains on this track.

Accident Three
      I was coming back from an event at school one night and crammed in a Covair that Peppie Scott had. It was a cool car, red I think. Peppie did not know how to drive slow. I think we must of had a contest going on to see how many we could get in his car. It held four, But I think we had six or seven boys and girls. Now that was fun. I can only remember Peppie and me!

     We were coming from HHS down 441 towards Shaw, probably too fast, and about where Linda Council used to live, a dog or something crossed the road and we started spinning . Luckily nothing else was coming toward us. We spun around about four times and then went over a hill landing in the yard of Linda Council's house. The car was not damaged. Since we had so many in the car, crammed in there, no one was hurt. It was amazing..I do not think we were drinking either.
      Someone called the police and ambulance just in case. I am sure an observer thought we were all going to die. Anyhow the best part was to come.
      The ambulance folks from the base, said that their procedure required the driver to come with them to the hospital. Peppie complained to them that he was fine, but they made him get in anyhow.
No one got hurt in the spin out, but as Peppie was getting in the ambulance, they slammed the door and caught his hand in the door and broke one or two of his fingers!  HA!  We laughed a lot after he left!

Accident Four
     I was riding with John McTamney in his Simca convertible one night going to a party at Beth Segar's house. We had never been there but it was somewhere out in the country beyond Hillcrest. I still cannot remember where, but it was dark, we had three guys in a two seat car and John was drivin' fast.

 About that time a dog, fox or probably a possum ran in front of us and John swerved and we spun around no telling how many times till we stopped on the side of the road. No one hurt and car was ok. But, once again, it really scared the hell out of me. Even to this day I think of it while driving in country roads at night.




Accident Five
     This one caused the most damage to my 55 Chevy,  my beautiful white Chevy. I was coming back from a show and dance in Camden featuring Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs. It was the night before Thanksgiving in 1965. I was dating Marian Jackson that night and we were traveling down Highway 261 on a beautiful night with my radio tuned into WNOX from Knoxville that I am sure was playing some great soul music.

   Not far from the Rembert road, I looked up and saw a deer in the field way off on the right ahead of us. I mentioned to Marian to look at that beast, when all of a sudden, it started to run toward the highway...fast. I first thought about slowing down, but then I thought I could beat it, so I sped up. That damn deer's head crashed right into my right headlight, crashing its body along the side of my car and passenger door. I stopped and saw all my lights were off. Pissed at the damage to my beautiful car ( I think I worried more of the car than Marian who was not hurt luckily).
      I jumped out and did not see the deer, but in the dark, could hear it stumbling around in the dark in the field next to the road. I grabbed a knocked off piece of chrome from the car and started yelling at the deer really pissed off and wanting to finish it. Smartly, Marian suggested I come back and get the lights working and we leave. I opened the hood and found a loose wire for the lights and got them working and drove her home.
     My future brother in law was at my house that night and said we would go out in the morning and find that deer. We went out early on that clear frozen Thanksgiving morning and found the dead deer in a ditch, frozen. We put that 7 point buck in his truck and took it to his uncle in Dalzell. who skinned and butchered it. We ate venison for the next six months. But the taste of it never took the foul feeling out of my mouth or my memories of that night.

Accident Six
     I think this was in the spring of '66 and I was going to Sumter one night in John McTamney's father's '57 Cadillac.

Now this was a classic and John had never been allowed to drive this car, only that little gray Simca. So this was a big night for us guys to drive to Sumter in a big Caddy. This was a ship too. It was a solid steel animal like none other I had ever ridden in. Don Roberts was riding shotgun and controller of the radio. John driving and I was in the back seat with _______, I cannot remember. We had gone by the base beer store at the base station and bought a six pack of something cheap at probably $1.25.
    We just opened our beers and were driving towards the Sumter Highway on 441 down near the Wiljon's store when all of a sudden a huge cow walked right off a field and slammed into the front of the car. I was in the back seat behind John, and in a slow motion act, the big tank quickly slowed and the cow still standing, passed by my window. John pulled over and the first thing the rest of us thought was all the beer we had in the car. While John cussed the cow and almost cried about what his dad was going to do to him over the Caddy, the rest of us were throwing the cans over the hill next to the road into a field.

    In almost no time, John Frank Williams, the owner of Wiljon's, the owner of one of the largest mobile parks in Sumter and owner of the farm all around where we crashed into the cow, showed up. He was telling us that this was not his cow and he had no idea how it got out and hit us. He really did not want to have to pay John's damage. But quickly, he pulled out his hunting knife and cut the throat of the dead cow as he said it would preserve the quality of the meat if we bled it out quickly. He was thinking he was going to get all this meat for him. But the police came and told us that in this case, the meat would go to an orphanage in Sumter as was the law.
   We were able to drive the car and he dropped all of us at our homes and he went to deal with his dad. We never saw John in this car again. I think he got grounded for sure. There was more to this story, but that will come at another time. A horrendous night but made for great story!