Individual Details

Death

Two Stanly county young men died as a result of a wreck near Kings Mountain Thursday night which also took the lives of two other persons. Paul Kenneth Furr, 19, and Ronnie Blackwelder, 23, both of Mt. Pleasant, route 1, were the Stanly victims. Young Furr died in the crash which occurred on the Highway 29 by-pass now under construction, while Blackwelder died a short time later in the Kings Mountain hospital. The other victims of the crash were Mrs. Mary Emmaline Sansing Grigg, 41, of route 1, Kings Mountain, who was killed instantly, and Lyman E. Champion, 41, of route 3, Kings Mountain, who died in the hospital later. Sgt. J. B. Kuykendall, state highway patrolman who investigated the wreck, said Friday that a Kings Mountain teenager has admitted taking part in a race which ended in the crash. He said that Palmer Huffstetler, 17-year-old youth, signed a statement in which he gave retails of events leading up to the wreck. Sgt. Kuykendall said that young Huffstetler reported that the Furr youth had been talking to him about a race for the past two or three days. Both youths, along with Blackwelder, had been working for Blythe Brothers Construction company, of Charlotte, which has the contract to complete the by-pass.The race was allegedly arranged as the boys completed work about 6:15 Thursday. The pair allegedly lined up their vehicles, facing southeast on the by-pass roadbed, near the bridge on N. C. 161 which overpasses the new road, Huffstetler reported, and another man served as flagman by dropping his hat to signal the start of the race. The officer reported that Huffstetler said he took the lead, driving a 1955 Chevrolet pick-up and met a 1954 Ford on an up-grade about two miles down the road. When the Furr auto failed to come over the rest, Huffstetler said he turned around, went back and discovered the wreckage. He then got assistance from a group of Negroes nearby and came to town to call an ambulance. The accident took place 1.7 miles southwest of the N. C. 161 intersection at 6:28 p.m. Thursday, Sgt. Kuykendall said, and was on a portion of the roadbed which had been stoned. The officer said that Blythe Brothers was in charge of the road and that it had been barricaded and was definitely not open to the public. The sergeant, who has been an officer for 15 years, said the damage to the autos was the worst he had ever seen in a collision between two passenger cars.

Funeral services for Blackwelder were held at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Kinzah Baptist church near Albemarle. Burial was in the church cemetary. The Rev. John H. Connell officiated, assisted by the Rev. J. C. Furr. Surviving are his wife, the former Shirley Ann Morgan, a daughter, Judy Ann, two brothers, Leonard Blackwelder of Stanfield and James of the U. S. Army; three sisters, Mrs. Ratchell Fisher of Mt. Pleasant, and Mrs. Sue Blackwelder and Mrs. Ruby Furr of Mt. Pleasant.

Funeral services for Furr, of Mt. Pleasant, route 1, were held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Herrin Grove. Primitive Baptist church. Burial was in the church cemetery. Elder Ausby Treece officiated, assisted by the Rev. Kenneth Hagler. Surviving are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Paul S. Furr, of Mt. Pleasant, his wife, Ruby Blackwelder Furr, four brothers, Doyle, J. Vann, Cecil and Donnie, all of the home; four sisters, Mrs. Bernice Hopkins of Mt. Pleasant, Mrs. Dorothy Hopkins of route 3 Albemarle, and Louise and Peggy of the home.
Stanly News and Press, Albemarle, North Carolina, August 9, 1955