Extracted from The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS)
Friday, August 19, 1927

FLORA ITEMS

At four o'clock on Wednesday afternoon the body of Mr. J. H. Hardy was laid to rest in Old Mount Bluff cemetery. Bro. Roberts conducted the burial ceremony. Mr. Hardy met a terrible death in an automobile wreck when the log truck in which he was riding was struck by a fast banana train going north. The accident happened about six miles from town, and several persons were witnesses to the awful tragedy. The occupants of the truck could not see the oncoming train; although several men at the crossing tried to warn them by waving their hands to them, but undoubtedly they failed to see the men as they were engaged in talking and did not seem to see the train until it was ready to strike them. Mr. Hardy was thrown from the truck while his companion, A. E. Sweeney fo [sic of] Canton, was carried about a quarter of a mile down the track. Neither of the men were unconscious when first reached by the onlookers and realized their condition. They told them to tell their wives and children goodbye and Mr. Sweeney toldl [sic told] what phone number to call at Canton to get his wife. Both men were unconscious when they reached the hospital. Mr. Hardy's wife and children were visiting relatives in Scott county and he was dead before she could reach Jackson. Mr. Hardy was reared here and has a host of friends and relatives to mourn for him. Two widows and nine orphan children were left by this double tragedy. Mr. Hardy leaves six and Mr. Sweeney leaves three children. The entire sympathy of Flora community goes out to these grief stricken families in this great sorrow.