+ WEATHER +
Sunny and continued hot today and
Tuesday. Fair and warm tonight,
high today around 90 in mountains
and 100 elsewhere.
VOULME 9
TELEPHONE 3117 — 3118
DUNN, N. C. MONDAY AFTERNOON, JUNE 29, 1959
FIVE CENTS PER COPY
NO- 143
Lawyer Companion
With Big Truck
IT NEVER OVERTURNED f- Slammed completely oat of shape,
its windshield hanging cockeyed, car which carried Nathan Johnson,
Sr., and C. G. Dunn to their death never overturned but its
* passengers were thrown out, killed on imphet. ft was actually
headed in opposite direction, up the kffl toward LUlinrton, at the
time of the disaster. (Record Photos by Ted Crail.)
4
JUST HANGING — Big trailer truck which collided with the GRIM CHORE — Ambulance attendants lifted “Uncle Nathan’s"
Johnson car barely missed plunging- over steep embankment. The shieet-covered body into ambulance. Both he and Dunn were killed
driver was knocked unconscious, thrown into deep shock. almost instantly.
hovers on edn of embankment while farther down a crowd has
fathered around Johnson car which partly straddled the drater
SCENE OF ACCIDENT — This sweeping stretch of road, a
short distance beyond the big highway Junction of U-S. 421 and 55
above Erwin, was the site of tlv double fatality. Track (at right)
Both Men. Killed
Almost Instantly
By TED CRAIL
RECORD NEWS EDITOR
A smashing double fatality on j
Claimed the lives of attorney C. G.
one-time farm boy who had risen li
become one of North Carolina’s top
To thousands in this .area, he
as much as any man his success
of those who knew him and lived
Both men were dead before I
them. Thrown from the car whic
they collided with a truck, they (
under the truck' and Johnson lane
Dr. Charles Byrd pronounced ther
the.skull and internal injuries.
Hundreds arrived at the scene
almost as soon as it happened
and at the Johnson home in Dunn
cars began to collect. Throughout
the county, news of Jhe death had
coursed as quickly as a rifle shot.
Johnson's companion' was at
first identified as Bart Johnson
but Bart was one of those who
came to the scene of the collis>
ion. With him was Bob Bass,
manager of the /.ractor division
at the Dunn store which was only
a part of Johnson’s merchandis
ing empire.
I
“It's like toeing your second
daddy,” Bass said.
He turned away from the scene
when he was still a hundred yards
away and wouldn’t look. Tears
were in the eyes of many of those
who had come to sfee a wreck and
found the- “Big Nathan" was
dead.
To investigating patrolmen W.
T. Harris, and W. \0. Grady, the
reason behind the wreck was still
locked in the measurements of
skid marks and other physical ev
idence which they had taken at
the scene.
The Johnson car had hit the
truck while in the wrong lane but
there was no clear view of why
it was there.
Taken to Good Hope Hospital
in deep shock, truck driver Ray
B. Isaac, a 28-year-old resident of
Morehead iCty, said to Harnett
Coroner R. L. Pate, Sr., that just
before the crash it had looked like
Johnson was about to park.
“Isaac had been to Lillington
to make a delivery to the gar
ment factory,’’ said Pate. “He
drives for the 'Morehead City
Garment Company.
“He said that he saw this other
car run off the highway on the
shoulder and he expected it to
park. But J,hen it ran back, across
the center-line and into his truck.
“He said he was going about 45
and it looked like the car was do
ing about the same.”
The coroner has impaneled an
inquest jury, composed of six
men from Dunn, but will not sche
dule the hearing into the accident
until the first of next week. Isaac,
he said, will be transferred to the
Morehead City Hospital.
County Commissioner W. O.
Warren was directly behind the
Johnson car, but at a considera
ble distance, and did not actually
see the accident,
“When I looked up,” said War
ren, “this thing had happened. I
saw that a truck and car had col
lided on the hill.
“I pulled up and jumped out of
my car and ran to it. I saw Mr.
Johnson first—I thought it was
him even then—lying at the back
wheel. He was already dead and
I could tell that the other man
under the truck was dead, too.
“O. T. Wilson was there and
we saw that the man in the cab
of the truck needed help. He was
still living. We couldn’t open the
door on the driver’s side and the
truck was so far over the embank
ment on the other side we could
n’t get at him ( om there.
“He was u -onscious at first and
when he 1 'an to raise up he was
still so confused w« couldn't tell
7
i rising roadway near Erwin today
Dunn and of Nathan Johnson, Sr.,
ke a hero out of Horatio Alger to
merchandisers.
was known a.«i “Big Nathan" and
story had caught the imagination
beside him. i
he nearest man could even reach
li Johnson himself was driving as
lied on impact. Dunn was thrown
ed beside one of its great wheels,
i dead from multiple fractures of
him what to do. Wilson and I got
hold of him and pulled him out
through the window of the cab.
“When we pulled him out, he
went completely crazy when he
saw the two men lying there.
He was out of his head with shock.
“I twisted him around With his
back to them and slapped him in
the face to bring him back to his
senses.”
5 Coroner Pate said there appear
ed to be no-one except the truck
driver who actually saw the col.
• lieion as it occurred. The jury he
has appointed to serve at the in
quest includes Chajrles Hildreth,
Charles Smith, J. Henry Thomas,
Edwin Boyette, Gerald S. Mann
and George F. Owen.
Tragic News
Hit Staff
Like A bolt
The death of Nathan M. John
son, Sr. early this afternoon prac
tically paralyzed operation of
Dunn' largest (and one of the
State's largest) business firms.
News of the fatal accident in
which he was involved hit offi
cials and employees at the home
office here like# a bolt of light
ning.
They douldn’t believe it.
“Big Nathan dead—No, it can’t
be,” said officials, secretaries,
clerks and others with tones of
both shock and disbelief.”
They referred to him a “Big
Nathan” since the son who suc
ceeded him as president of the
huge company is named Nathan,
Jr. Everybody identified them as
“Big Nathan” or “Little Nathan.”
That name Nathan—with an
added—has become a household
byeword in Eastern North Caroli
(Continued On page Six)...
Wmm . : W*smsm U
NATHAN JOHNSON SR.
I
Came Up Hard, Lived Conservatively
”Big Nathan" Was
A Self-Made Man
Nathan M. Johnson, Sr., killed
early this afternoon in a tragic
highway accident at the age of
S8, came from a farm in Johnston
County to build a business empire
that stretched across two states
and beyond.
He was the founder and execu
tive vice president of Johnson
Cotton Company and it affiliated
stores—19 of them all in North
and South Carolina—and its other
far-flung manufacturing, financial,
jobbing and retail operations.
These subsidiaries included two
large fertilizer plants, one in Dunn
and lhe other at Wilmington, num
erous cotton gins, Southern Job.
bers, a large mercantile jobbing
concern, and he was also the ma
jority stockholder in Four County
Agricultural Credit Corporation.
But despite the personal fortune
which he accumulated and the en
ormity of the business operations
he directed, he remained one of
the town’s most unpretentious cit
izens. He lived conservatively, and
shunned publicity and social ac
tivity with equal vigor.
It was an unusual event that
kept him out of bed after 7 o’clock
at night and he was usually at his
office about 5 in the morning.
Though he remained in the back
ground, he was the community’s
No. 1 benefactor and philanthrop
ist. His pride and joy was the
three-story Dunn hospital built at
a cost of over a half million dollars
by Mr. Johnson and donated to
the community.
He also maintained a hospital
fund for the caFe of the needy.
He took pride in the fact that no
needy person has ever been turned
away.
The lOO.bed hospital was open
ed here in 1940 but it wasn’t un_
til two years ago that Mr. John
son was revealed to the public as
the donor—and then only over
his protests. At the same time,
the hospital board renamed the
institution Betsy Johnson Mem.
orial Hospital in memory of his
deceased mother.
He was youngest of ten children
, born to the late Alsey Daniel
; Johnson and Elizabeth Tart John,
j son on May 18, 1891 on the farm
(Continued On Pace Sis)
Erwin Bargain
Begin Tuesday
Days
Morning
Erwin’s third annual July Bar
gain Days celebration, designed to
be even bigger than the ones pre
viously held, will swing open Tues
day morning at 9 o’clock sharp
and continue through Saturday
night.* *
Ty Thomas, owner of Erwin
Furniture Company, and George
Joseph, owner of Joseph's Depart
ment Store, ar€ in charge of the
arrangements and said today that
everything is in readiness.
Practically all of the business
firms of Erwin are participating
and are going all-out to offer big
ger and better values than ever
before.
Purpose of these trade events,
held each January and eadfa July,
are to attract new shoppers to
Erwin and to acquaint them with f
th« outstanding stores, personnel I
and stocks of merchandise waiting
to serve them in the friendly town.
REAL VALUES
Each participating store is of.
fering values you can expect tc
receive only once a year and. some
times not that often. Merchants
' V
agreed today that prices will be
the lowest in years.
Instead of holding individual
sales at the various stores at dift
ferent times, all the stores are
combining to make shopping and
saving in Erwin even more at
tractive.
AH the go<<ds being offered on
sale is absolutely top.quality new
merchandise, much of which wai
purchased especially for this event.
"And frankly,” pointed out mer
chants today, “It's doubtful that
we can replace the goods for any.
where near the low price we’re
selling It at this week.”
Huge crowds are expected every
day. If unable to attend the first
part of the week, shoppers wont
have to worry, however, because
there's plenty of merchandise and
new stocks will be available each
.day.