From The Selma Times-Journal, Tuesday, January 30, 1940

Injured in an accident which claimed two lives early Monday afternoon on the Birmingham highway, Henry E. Owens, a lumber hauler, was reported in a fair condition Tuesday at the Selma Baptist Hospital. His injuries are believed to include a fractured skull.

Quilford Smith, 22, son-in-law of Owens, and Jesse J. Adams, 55, were both killed instantly, when a loaded lumber truck, driven by Smith, overturned on a sharp curve 9 miles out Highway 22 at 3:15 p.m. Monday, the time of the accident having been established by a watch found on Smith's body with the hands stopped at that hour.

Excessive speed was said to have been one of the causes of the wreck, one of the worst to happen in this section recently, State Highway Patrolment Jones and Hawkins who made the investigating stating that the truck must have been traveling between 65 and 70 miles an hour. After striking a concrete culvert the truck traveled 100 yards before leaving the left-hand side of the road and overturning in a deep ravine, to land with all four wheels in the air. Adams was pinned in the cab against the only door that could be opened and Highway Patrolmen had to secure the aid of a number of men to free his body. Both Smith and Owens were thrown clear of the vehicle. A motorist said to be Paul Friday of Plantersville reached the scene a few moments after the accident and rushed the injured man to the hospital here. Breslin-Service ambulances brought the two bodies to Selma.

Owens, owner of the truck, contracts as a lumber hauler and both Smith and Adams were his employees, it was said. Adams was a resident of Pletcher and the other men are from Route 2 east of Plantersville.

Surviving Smith, who was born in Bibb County, are his wife, Mrs. Odell Owens Smith, and a son, Leonard, 2 1/2 years old; his mother, Mrs. Essie Smith, and four sisters, Mrs. Lucille Ingram, Misses Lucy, Lutricia, and Bessie Smith, all of the Plantersville area; and two brothers, J. W. and John D. Smith, of Adger.

Adams, a native of Chilton County, was unmarried, his survivors being the following sisters and brothers: Mrs. Betty Anderson, Mrs. Lily Anderson and Mrs. Molly Sexton of Pletcher; Mrs. Susie Sexton and Mrs. Josie Padgett of Maplesville; J. W. Adams of Selma and Worth Adams of Pletcher.

His body was sent from Breslin-Service Funeral Home Monday night to Pletcher, where burial was in Pilgrim Rest cemetery following services held at the church there Tuesday afternoon.

Funeral services for Mr. Smith are to be held Wednesday at Little Hope cemetery near Centreville, the body to be carried there by motor hearse from Breslin-Service.

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