Isle of Wight County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Whitley, Janie E. Bradshaw, 1949 

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JANIE ELIZABETH BRADSHAW WHITLEY 

GRADE-CROSSING ACCIDENT TAKES LIFE OF ONE WOMAN PUTS ANOTHER IN HOSPITAL 

Mrs. Percy A. Whitley of Carrsville Is Killed And Her Sister-In-Law, 
Mrs. Lizzie B. Turner, Is Critically Hurt When Auto Is Hit By Train 
Near Franklin. 

   Another grade-crossing tragedy was written into the grisly record book of 
traffic accidents last Friday afternoon, January 7, at 5:10 o’clock when 
south-bound Seaboard train No. 17 plowed into a Pontiac sedan about one mile 
east of Franklin.

   Occupants of the automobile were Mrs. Lizzie B. Turner, 64, owner of the 
car, and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Percy A. Whitley, 56, of the Carrsville 
community, Mrs. Turner was behind the steering wheel.  According to reports, 
the two women, accompanied by Mrs. Whitley’s sister, Mrs. Beverly W. 
Daughtrey, had been to Lee’s Mill to get some meal.  Their mission 
accomplished at 3:15, they had then proceeded to Mrs. Daughtrey’s residence 
some distance farther on, where Mrs. Whitley and Mrs. Turner remained for 
more than an hour.  They were returning to their own homes when tragedy, in 
the form of a fast-flying train, roared out of the gathering dusk, snuffing 
out the life of Mrs. Whitley and sending Mrs. Turner to the hospital with a 
multiplicity of injuries.

   The scene of the accident was the spot at which Route 616 crosses the 
tracks of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad to join Route 58.  On the right of 
Route 616 near the railroad is the plant of the Franklin Concrete Products 
Corporation.  It is surmised that the buildings of the plant prevented the 
occupants of the Pontiac sedan from observing the approach of the train.

   Fireman Henry Mason of Portsmouth, from his window in the cab of Engine 
No. 268, could see the automobile approaching the crossing; but Engineer 
Harvey Woodruff, also of Portsmouth, was powerless to prevent the collision. 
Automobile and locomotive reached the crossing simultaneously; and, as is 
usual in such cases, the automobile was brushed aside.  The cow-catcher of 
the locomotive hit the sedan near the right front wheel, carrying it a 
distance of 22 feet beyond the crossing before hurling it into a ravine 
about three feet deep.

   Mrs. Whitley, who was seated on the side of the automobile struck by the 
locomotive, is believed to have died instantly.  Her body was found in the 
ravine, lying by the left front wheel of the car.  Mrs. Turner was thrown 
clear.  Badly injured but still alive, she was brought by Stanley T. Holland 
of W.J.M. Holland & Sons to Raiford Memorial Hospital, where she is reported 
holding her own in the struggle to survive.

   The accident was investigated by State Trooper W.G. O’Brien and Dr. T.A. 
Morgan, Coroner for Southampton County, who permitted the removal of the body 
of the accident victim to the Holland Funeral Home.

   Mrs. Whitley was the daughter of the late John and Mrs. Rhoda Lankford 
Bradshaw of Isle of Wight County, and was a member of Beaver Dam Baptist 
Church.  She is survived by her husband, Percy A. Whitley of Carrsville; two 
daughters, Mrs. I.B. Hall of Charlottesville and Miss Elsie Lee Whitley of Bob 
Jones University, Greenville, S.C.; a grandson, David Hall of Charlottesville; 
and three sisters, Mrs. Flora Joyner of Norfolk and Mrs. Beverly W. Daughtrey 
and Mrs. Charlie Daughtrey, both of Franklin RFD.

   Funeral services for Mrs. Whitley were conducted at three o’clock Sunday 
afternoon in Beaver Dam Baptist Church by Rev. John P. Batkins of Roanoke, a 
former pastor, assisted by Rev. P. Rowland Wagner of Norfolk and Rev. Edward 
Thornton, the new pastor of Beaver Dam.  Interment was in Beaver Dam Cemetery.

   The active pallbearers were Samuel, Lloyd and James Bradshaw, Harrell and 
Roland Whitley, Clifton Daughtrey, John Henry Joyner, and Marshall Carper of 
Bluefield, W.Va.  Honorary pallbearers were Roy Thomas, Guy Holland, Fenton 
Beale, Maxie Day, Hudson Lankford, Paul Warren, Wilson Holland, Shelton Carr, 
and friends of the family.

   Mr. Whitley, husband of the accident victim, accompanied his son-in-law 
and daughter, Rev. and Mrs. I.B. Hall, on their return to Charlottesville, 
where he will remain for some weeks.


Janie Elizabeth (BRADSHAW; Mrs. Percy A.) WHITLEY, of Carrsville, 
Isle of Wight Co. native, 
killed in collision with train 7 Jan 1949, near Franklin, age 56, 
interred in Beaver Dam Baptist Church Cemetery*, near Franklin, 9 Jan 1949, 
"The Tidewater News" (Franklin, VA), Jan. 14, 1949, p. 1 

*Her parents are also buried there. 
   Beaver Dam list (BD-79 & -10), an extension of the 
   Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/isleofwight/cemeteries/bvrdam.txt 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), 
and re-formatted by File Manager. 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/isleofwight/obits/w340j7ob.txt