Time capsule
As reported in The Columbia News 72 years ago on Thursday, Nov. 13, 1930.
9-year-old killed by car
George Bradford, 9-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. T.P. Bradford of Campania, Ga., was fatally injured Saturday afternoon when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Guy C. Smith, an Augusta contractor.
The accident was said to have occurred when the boy ran behind a school bus that had stopped to let him off near his home and into the path of Smith's car. Another truck in front of the school bus prevented George from seeing the oncoming car. According to Smith, the boy started across the road, paused, then ran in front of his car.
George was rushed to an Augusta hospital where he died shortly after his arrival of skull, arm and leg fractures.
The accident was deemed unavoidable and George's father exonerated Smith of all responsibility, according to witnesses.
Funeral services were conducted Saturday afternoon at Rehoboth Church with burial following in the churchyard. George is survived by his parents and four brothers and sisters.
Fake Masons caught stealing money
Two men posing as members of the Masonry were charged with obtaining money under false pretenses at a hearing by the Taylor county grand jury.
Dr. W.W. Stonestreet and George C. Phillips, both of Morgantown, W.Va., represented themselves to several Columbia County residents as members of the Masonry. The men told them for a certain amount of money paid an initiation fee, they would be made members of a Masonic lodge in Grafton, W.Va., called Mt. Lebanon No. 2.
Citizens paid the money thinking they were gaining entrance to the regular Masonry. After an inquiry, residents realized they had been duped as there is no Masonic lodge in Grafton under that name.
No potential member of a regular Masonic lodge is ever solicited. They must petition the body.
Local resident killed in car accident
Mrs. Huland E. Clary, 22, of Thomson, died and her uncle, Ben F. Johnson, banker and former Thomson mayor, was injured when the car Johnson was driving overturned on Sparta-Milledgeville Road early Sunday morning.
The two were traveling to Dothan, Ala., when Johnson attempted to avoid low-hanging electric wires in an "S" curve four miles north of Milledgeville. The vehicle rolled over, pinning its occupants.
Clary was pronounced dead on the scene from a broken neck, physicians said. Johnson was badly bruised and cut and received internal injuries and was taken to a Milledgeville infirmary.