Baltimore Sun, 6 October 1941.
Henry Green migrated temporarily to Maryland to work at a dairy. Tragically, he did not come home.
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In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Grace Street, public service laborer Henry Green, 47; wife Lottie, 40, cook; and children Cora, 12, Fred, 9, Henry Jr., 7, Edward, 2, and James, no age given.
Wilson Daily Times, 26 April 1937.
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Wilson Daily Times, 26 April 1940.
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M. Stanley Gilliam Jr. was principal of Williamson School.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: filling station attendant Herman Gilliam, 20; his widowed mother Annie, 48, a cook in a private home; and brothers Charles, 28, a waiter at Cherry Hotel, Stanley, 26, a teacher, and George, 22, a janitor at Carolina Theatre.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: tobacco factory laborer Jake Edwards, 45, widower, and children Mattie, 17, Golden, 22, oil mill laborer, and Eugene, 20, public service laborer.
Mamie Gibson died 3 April 1940 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 12 February 1908 in Wilson County to Phillip Cooper and Florence Ruffin, both born in Wayne County, N.C.; was married to Willie Gibson; lived at 1204 Atlantic Street; worked as a teacher; and was buried in Rocky Branch Cemetery. Her cause of death: “multiple fractures of pelvis; fracture left clavicle due to automobile accident” (“was 2-3 months pregnant.”) Frederick Cooper was informant.
Wilson Daily Times, 16 December 1929.
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“Coronary Embolus auto accident. Not at R.R. crossing occurred at place of death”
“Run down by Automobile while crossing the street, killed almost instantly. Was dead when Doctor reached there.”
Wilson Daily Times, 20 November 1918.
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While trying to pass a wagon on the road from Black Creek to Wilson (probably today’s Black Creek and Frank Price Church Roads), Johnnie Williams smashed his automobile into a telegraph pole, killing Washington Joyner and injuring Coot Robbins and Hiram Faulkner.
Wilson Daily Times, 19 August 1949.
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Hattie McMillian was only 15 months old when she was struck by John Lee Edmundson‘s truck. The impact fractured her skull, and she died within minutes. Per her death certificate, the little girl was born 6 March 1948 in Wilson to Neil and Mary McMillian; lived at 615 Taylor Street; and was buried in Moses cemetery, Pender County, N.C.
Taylor’s Alley no longer exist. It was a short block running between the railroad and Maury Street in the shadow of a stemmery and cotton oil mills.
Wilson_CSP_6B_12, U.S.D.A. Photograph Collection, State Archives of North Carolina.
Just after Christmas 1948, an all-white jury acquitted Woodrow Taylor, a white service station operator, in the murder of Hugh Bynum, a black man.
In a nutshell: Bynum and Taylor had a “conversation” about a pack of cigarettes. Bynum stepped out of the store. Taylor followed and asked, “You don’t think I’ll kill you?” Bynum said no. Taylor went back in and returned with a shotgun. Again: “You don’t think I’ll kill you?” And shot Bynum in the chest. Or, “the gun went off” — Taylor said it fired accidentally when he tried to set it down on a “cold drink crate.” And he denied aggressively questioning Bynum. The jury believed him.
Wilson Daily Times, 29 December 1948.
Bynum was not the only black man whose manner of death went before a jury that day. On 7 October 1947, William Cooper was thrown into the street at Nash and Pender Streets when M.O. Tripp, driving drunk, struck his wagon. Cooper died two weeks of later of injuries sustained, and Tripp was charged with manslaughter. The Daily Times reported the verdict in this case the next day. Surprise.
Wilson Daily Times, 30 December 1948.
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In the 1920 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: farmer Lynn Bynum, 70; wife Lena, 50; and children Patience, 18, Lynn, 8, Harvey, 6, Hubert, 5, and Bunny, 3.
In 1940, Hubert Bynum registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born in 1915 in Edgecombe County; resided at Route 1, Stantonsburg, Wilson County; and his contact and employer was his first cousin Jack Bynum. He was described as “feeble-minded” with a “displaced eye.”
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In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: William F. Cooper, 43, delivery man for ice and coal company; wife Lillie, 30, cook; and step-daughter Anna Bobbitt, 16.
