Extracted from The Franklin Sun (Winnsboro, LA)
2 Killed in Smash-up Over Holiday Period
Death and serious injury rode the highways of Franklin and Richland parishes during the holidays, killing instantly James B. Allen, 27, route three, Winnsboro, and John Raymond Fitzgerald, 18 , route three, Rayville----adding to the national total of at least 413 traffic fatalities----and injuring seriously Randel Rice, 24, Baskin, and a young couple from San Antonio, Tex.
Allen and Fitzgerald were killed around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20, when the car in which they were riding on highway 15 near Mangham, crashed into a large truck and trailer driven by Early Miller, a Shreveport negro.
According to State Trooper Kit McCain, who investigated the tragedy, the three men were traveling south in a 1939 Ford coach. As they approached the truck driven by Miller, the lights of the Ford went out. The negro, being the only witness to the accident, said that just before they reached him, the car swerved from one side of the road to another before smashing into his truck.
The automobile was completely demolished, killing Allen and Fitzgerald and seriously injuring Rice.
Hurt in the second accident of the night were Mr. and Mrs. Rex P. James, both of San Antonio. Both received treatment in a local clinic as a result of a head-on collision with another car, driven by a Mangham negro, Gains Lyons. The negro pulled his vehicle from a side road into the path of the oncoming James automobile, approximately a quarter of a mile south of Mangham, in Franklin Parish. Trooper McCain stated.
Funeral services were held for the Franklin parish youth, Allen on Friday afternoon, Dec. 23, in the Lone Cedar Baptist church at 2 o'clock, with the Rev. A. C. Trapp, pastor, officiating. Interment was in the Lone Cedar cemetery under the direction of the Mulhearn Funeral Home.
Allen is survived by his wife, and three children, Jimmie, Sue and Donnie; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Huey Allen, Rayville; two brothers, Hubert Allen, Rayville, and Billy Allen, Gilbert; one sister, Mrs. Marie Olivo, Rayville.
The second victim of the accident, Fitzgerald, received final rites on Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 22, in the Coax Baptist church near Baskin, with the Rev. J. H. Hooks, pastor, officiating. Interment followed in the Coax cemetery, under the direction of Mulhearn Funeral home.
He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Willie Fitzgerald of Rayville; a brother, Aubrey Fitzgerald, Mangham and one sister, Mrs. Modine Robbins, Winnsboro.
Rice, who was seriously injured in the accident, is still a patient at the Rogers clinic, suffering complex head injuries.
Thursday, December 29, 1949