1/22/1926

Two men are dead and another injured as a result of an explosion on Laurel Thursday morning of last week. The 3 men who were employed by the State Highway Commission were loading a hole with dynamite. It seems that some obstruction in the way of the load was causing the men to drive the load down, when it exploded, killing instantly Clarence Capps, age 18, and fatally injuring Fred Rector of near Marshall so that he died at a hospital about five o’clock.

Shelton was the only on now living who was an eye witness to the tragedy. He is now in a hospital in Asheville suffering from a broken leg and bruises, from which he is recovering.

These were working on the state highway on Laurel. When the explosion occurred. Capps was blown to pieces so that it was necessary for different portions of his body to be collected before it could be interred. Mr. Rector, who was a brother of George Rector of near Marshall, had a family having been married twice and leaving five children in all. It is said that Mr. Shelton was of near White Rock.