Four state convicts were killed and 7 others were seriously injured in a coal car crash at the Carolina coal mine near Sanford. Two to the prisoners, James Ray of Raleigh, and Waddell Dortch of Durham, serving robbery sentences, were killed instantly while the others, Henry Simmons and Albert Spencer died later in the day.
According to the prison bulletin, the crash came when the cable of the coal cars snapped as the prisoners were being lifted out of the mine.