Extracted from The Franklin Sun (Winnsboro, LA)
Thursday, December 23, 1954

Lige L. Whitney Dies In Accident

Funeral services were conducted Monday afternoon at 4 o'clock at Coax community Baptist church for Lige Laveer Whitney, 41, who was killed instantly in an automobile accident about 12:20 a.m. Saturday. The Rev. Braswell officiated, assisted by the Rev. Wilson Rawls. Interment was in the Coax cemetery near Baskin.

A resident of Coax community, Mr. Whitney was traveling south of Louisiana highway 15 when the accident occured. According to information from the office of Sheriff Hiram B. Waller, as Mr. Whitney rounded a curve about four miles north of Winnsboro, he lost control of the vehicle, a 1950 four-door Ford sedan. The automobile overturned several times on the highway and came to rest in a bar pit adjoining the highway. As the car rolled over and over, Mr. Whitney was thrown from it, dying instantly as a result of a crushed chest and skull, according to Dr. H. E. Jones, Franklin parish coroner. The automobile was totally demolished.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hodge, who were approximately a quarter of a mile behind the Whitney automobile when the accident occured, were the first on the accident scene. State Trooper W. W. Miller was summoned to investigate the tragedy.

Those surviving Mr. Whitney are: four sisters, Mrs. Alice Goodman, Mrs. J. H. Cook and Mrs. M. W. Cook, all of Winnsboro, and Mrs. O. E. Gwin [sic Givens], Haughton; three brothers, Archie and Edward Whitney of Winnsboro and Jessie Whitney of Willet, Calif.

Pallbearers were C. H. Nelson, W. E. Nugent, Elton Goodman, Richard Goodman, Dawsey Jones and A. W. Williamson.

Funeral services were directed by First National Funeral home of Winnsboro.