Williams, Frank Moore

Williams, Frank Moore

Posted on by ML Williams

Collision on Straight Highway: Two Killed and Three Injured

FRANK MOORE WILLIAMS | Two women were fatally injured in a head-on crash on a straight stretch of four-lane Highway 70 near Berclair last night, less than 100 yards from where Deputy O. B. Crawford, 49, was killed by a speeding automobile early Sunday, deputies reported.

THE DEAD

Mrs. P. N. Messer, 47, Route 1, Cordova, who died in a Thompson ambulance en route to St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Mrs. Sue Carter Warf, 31, of 226 N. Waldran, an employee of Britling’s Cafeteria on Madison, who died 30 minutes after reaching St. Joseph’s. Both women suffered crushed heads and bodies.

Three others were injured in the wreck, which happened at 11:10. It was raining at the time.

THE INJURED

Frank Williams, 45, Route 3, Memphis, a Buckeye Cotton Oil Mill foreman, internal injuries. He was taken from St. Joseph’s early today to John Gaston Hospital, where his wife has been a patient for several months.

P. N. Messer, 48, husband of the dead woman and a Buckeye foreman, a cut forehead and body bruises, at St. Joseph’s.

Robert C. Kaisi, 23, a Navy Shore Patrolman from Naval Air Technical Training Station, who suffered a broken jaw and internal injuries. He was taken from St. Joseph’s to the Naval Hospital at Millington.

Both in the Middle

After a preliminary investigation, Sheriff Perry said: “This is another case of motorists driving down the middle of the highway. It looks as tho both cars were in the middle of the highway.”

Deputies Hardin and Lord said Kaisi, with Mrs. Warf, as a passenger, was driving west on Highway 70. Messer was driving east on 70, and he and his wife are believed to have been taking Williams home from a visit to his wife at John Gaston.

Deputies quoted Messer as saying he was “following another car at about 30 miles per hour when the sailor’s car, coming at a high rate of speed, cut into the Messer car.’

Borrowed Car

Kaisi was unconscious and had made no statement this morning. Kaisi was driving a car owned by Mrs. Wallace R. Reid, 1695 Parkway, which he had borrowed from Donald Reid, son of Mrs. Reid, to take Mrs. Warf home, deputies said. He had promised to bring the car back at 1:30 a.m.

Mrs. Warf, a native of Tennessee, leaves two children, Joeann, 10, and Kenneth, 5, who live in rkansas; two sisters, Mrs. Pauline Fox, 570 N. Manassas, and Mrs. Frances Leamons, Sparkman, Ark.

A Thompson ambulance took the victims to St. Joseph’s Hospital. Thompson is in charge of Warf arrangements.

Mrs. Messer, native of Myrtle, Miss., had lived in Memphis about 25 years. She was a member of the Bartlett Baptist Church.

Services at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow at National Funeral Home, Rev. J. E. Tanksley and Rev. D. D. Smothers officiating. Burial in Memorial Park.

[26 Mar 1946 – Frank Moore Williams; The Press-Scimitar; Memphis, Tenn; 26 Mar 1946; Pg 11]

Frank Moore Williams | The Press-Scimitar; Memphis, Tenn; 26 Mar 1946; Pg 11
Frank Moore Williams | The Press-Scimitar; Memphis, Tenn; 26 Mar 1946; Pg 11

OFFICERS SEEK CAUSE OF DEATH CRASH HERE

Mrs. P. M. Messer, Mrs. Sue Warf Killed in Collision
THREE OTHERS INJURED

Sheriff’s deputies yesterday continued their investigation of a collision late Monday night on Summer Avenue at Berclair Road in which two women were killed and three other persons injured.

Deputies thus far have been unable to obtain written statements from Robert C. Kaisi, pharmacists mate at the Naval Air Technical Training Center, Millington, and P. M. Messer of Bartlett, Route 1, drivers of the two vehicles, who are in a serious condition.

Services Set For Today

Services for Mrs. Messer, 48, wife of Mr. Messer, will be held at National Funeral Home this afternoon at 2:30, with the Rev. J. E. Tanksley and the Rev. D. D. Smothers officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park.

Arrangements for Mrs. Sue Carter Warf, 31, of 226 North Waldran, an employee of Britling Cafeteria on Madison, had not been completed yesterday. Thompson Bros. Mortuary is in charge.

Pharmacists Mate Kaisi, who is in Naval Hospital at Millington, has a cerebral concussion, fractured jaw, lacerations and possible internal injuries. He was taking Mrs. Warf home in a borrowed car when the accident occurred. Sheriff Oliver Perry said he had been drinking. Mr. Messer is at St. Joseph Hospital.

Riding in the car with Mr. and Mrs. Messer was Frank M. Williams, 45, who lives on Highway 70. He is in a critical condition at John Gaston Hospital with a ruptured spleen.

Center “Overcrowded”

Sheriff Perry said the accident apparently was a result of motorists driving down the middle of the highway and overcrowding the center line.

While physicians examined Mr. Messer at the hospital yesterday morning he told deputies he was traveling about 30 miles per hour behind another car when the sailor’s car ran in front of him at a high rate of speed.

Mrs. Messer also leaves two daughters, Marjorie Messer of Bartlett, and Mrs. Sam Ware of Memphis; and the following brothers and sisters: Mrs. C. F. Autry and Ocie Swain of Memphis, Mrs. H. P. Ramsey of Birmingham, W. O. Swain of Tupelo, Miss., and A. J. Swain of Bartlett.

Mrs. Warf leaves two children, Joe Ann and Wallace Kenneth War, both of Morrilton, Ark.: four sisters, Mrs. Pauline Fox of Memphis, Mrs. Frances Leamons of Sparkman, Ark,; Miss Grace Carter and Miss Ruth Carter of Terre Haute, Ind., and a brother, Clarence Carter of New York.

[Frank Moore Williams; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 27 Mar 1946; Pg 5]

Frank Moore Williams; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 27 Mar 1946; Pg 5

Third Crash Victim Dies

Frank Moore Williams, injured in the Monday night crash of two automobiles on Summer Avenue, at Berclair Road, which had already claimed two lives, died at John Gaston Hospital at 10 last night. He lived on R.F.D. Route 3, near Berclair. Arrangements are in charge of Gilliam F. Jones, undertaker, at Stanton, Tenn. Mrs. P. M. Messer of Cordova and Mrs. Sue Carter Warf of 226 North Waldran, died shortly after the headon collision.

[Frank Moore Williams; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 28 Mar 1946; Pg 1]

Frank Moore Williams; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 28 Mar 1946; Pg 1
Frank Moore Williams; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 28 Mar 1946; Pg 1

DEATH’S TOLL MOUNTS TO 8

Frank M. Williams Is Latest County Traffic Victim

With the death of a third victim in the head-on crash on Highway 70 near Berclair, the traffic toll for Shelby County outside the city limits today stood at eight, compared with five at this time last year.

Frank Moore Williams, 45, of Route 3, Memphis, a Buckeye Cotton Oil Mill foreman, died at John Gaston Hospital at 10 last night following an operation for internal injuries. He had been with Buckeye since 1942. His wife has been a patient in John Gaston for several months. They have two children.

Mrs. P. N. Messer, 47, Route 1, Cordova, died en route to the hospital Monday night and Mrs. Sue Carter Warf, 31, of 226 N. Waldran, died 30 minutes after reaching the hospital.

Mr. Williams and Mr. and Mrs. Messer were riding in the Messer car. Mrs. Messer had picked up the two men, both Buckeye foremen, and they were going home. Deputies say Mr. Messer was driving. He is a patient at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Mrs. Warf was riding with Robert C. Kaisi, 23, a Navy Shore Patrolman from NATTC, Millington, deputies report. Kaisi, who suffered a broken jaw, is in the Naval Hospital and has made no statement on the matter. Sheriff Perry said the two cars were moving down the middle of the highway and hit head-on. No arrests have been made.

Mr. Williams was a brother of Thomas Edward Williams, 285 N. McLean. Gilliam F. Jones, undertaker, Stanton, Tenn., in charge of services.

Services for Mrs. Warf were to be at 3 p.m. today at Thompson Bros. Mortuary. Burial at Arlington.

[The Memphis Press-Scimitar; Memphis, Tenn; 28 Mar 1946; Pg 5]

The Memphis Press-Scimitar; Memphis, Tenn; 28 Mar 1946; Pg 5

MORE POLICING ON HIGHWAY 70

Result of Recent Tragedies: May Install Light

Special policing of Highway 70 has been inaugurated by Sheriff Oliver Perry.

This action follows two automobile tragedies – the death of Deputy O. B. Crawford early Sunday at Summer and Perkins and the death of Mrs. P. N. Messer of Cordova and Mrs. Sue Carter Warf, 226 N. Waldran, at Summer and Berclair Road late Monday night. Frank M Williams died of injuries in the Monday crash last night.

Both deputies and highway patrolmen are on the alert for speeders and are also cautioning motorists to drive in the proper lane. A speeding car was blamed for the first tragedy and two cars driving down the middle of the highway for the second.

Sheriff Perry said another safety precaution being considered is a blinker traffic light at the entrance to the Berclair community. Sheriff Perry has been invited to discuss the traffic situation at Berclair Civic Club Monday night and probably will do so.

The sheriff said that there has been considerable speeding on this highway.

[Frank Moore Williams; The Press-Scimitar; Memphis, Tenn; 28 Mar 1946; Pg 1]

Frank Moore Williams; The Press-Scimitar; Memphis, Tenn; 28 Mar 1946; Pg 1

SQUAD CAR ORDERED TO PATROL HIGHWAY 70

Sheriff Moves to Reduce Traffic Accidents
DEPUTY DIES IN CRASH

Sheriff Perry moved to cut down accidents on Highway 70 as the result of the two auto tragedies on the highway Sunday and Monday in which four people lost their lives.

The sheriff ordered a squad car to patrol the highway from the city limits to Berclair and said he is considering installing a blinker traffic light at the entrance to Berclair.

Patrol to Assist

The squad car will patrol the highway when it is not on call and will be on the lookout for speeding motorists, he said. A Tennessee Highway Patrol vehicle also will patrol the highway with the squad car when possible, he added.

Sheriff Perry blamed one of the crashes, in which Deputy Sheriff Olney B. Crawford was killed, on speeding. The other crash, in which three persons died and two others were seriously injured, was attributed by the sheriff to the motorists carelessness. He said both cars involved were being driven down the middle of the highway.

Mr. Crawford died early Sunday in an accident at Summer and Perkins. Frank Moore Williams, who was injured Monday in an accident which claimed the lives of two women, died at John Gaston Hospital Wednesday night.

His death was the eighth traffic fatality in Shelby County (outside of Memphis) as compared with five at the same time last year. Drivers of the two vehicles in the Monday crash – P. M. Messer of Bartlett and Pharmacist’s Mate Robert C. Kaisi – are still in hospitals in a serious condition. Mr. Messer is at St. Joseph Hospital and Seaman Kaisi at the Naval Hospital at Millington.

Services Scheduled

Services for Mr. Williams, who lived on R.F.D. Route 3 near Berclair, will be held at the Baptist Church at Charleston, Tenn., at 3:3- this afternoon. The Rev. J. Carl McCoy, will officiate. Gilliam F. Jones Funeral Directors of Stanton, Tenn., are in charge.

Mr. Williams leaves his wife, Mrs. Verbal Williams; two daughters, Cathrine and Joy Williams; his mother, Mrs. Fannie C. Williams of Mason, Tenn., and the following brothers and sisters: T. E. Williams of Memphis, M. G. Williams of Malabar, Fla., J. A. Williams and Allen Williams of Mason, Tenn., Mrs. Doris Hogan, Miss Iris Williams and Miss Helen Williams, all of Mason, and Miss Ruby Williams of Memphis.

[Frank Moore Williams; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 29 Mar 1946; Pg 34]

Frank Moore Williams; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 29 Mar 1946; Pg 34

CHARGE IS PLACED IN TRIPLE FATALITY

Robert C. Kaisi, a Navy Shore Patrolman from NATTC, has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the triple fatality resulting from an auto collision on Highway 70 near Berclair March 25. The General Sessions warrant was sworn out by Homicide Deputy S. E. Hall.

Mr. Kaisi, still in a serious condition from a broken jaw and other injuries received in the wreck, is in the Naval Hospital at Millington and it may be two or three weeks before his preliminary arraignment, according to Sheriff Perry.

Kaisi’s version of the accident is that Mrs. Sue Carter Warf, 21, of 226 N. Waldran, an employee of Britling’s Cafeteria on Madison was driving at the time of the impact – “but we know that isn’t so,” Sheriff Perry declared.

Killed at the time of the collision were Mrs. Warf and Mrs. P. N. Messer, 47, of Route 1, Cordova. Frank Williams, 45, of Route 3, Memphis, died a short time later. P. N. Messer, 48, a Buckeye Cotton Oil Mill foreman, who was driving the car in which his wife and Williams were riding, was injured.

[The Press-Scimitar; Memphis, Tenn; 17 Apr 1946; Pg 3]

The Press-Scimitar; Memphis, Tenn; 17 Apr 1946; Pg 3

FORMER SAILOR FREED IN AUTOMOBILE DEATH

Jury Requires 20 Minutes to Acquit Robert Kaisi
OTHER CASES MAY LAPSE

Robert C. Kaisi, 21 of St. Louis, former Navy pharmacist’s mate at Millington, was neither speeding, intoxicated nor otherwise responsible for the traffic death of Mrs. Evie Messer on Highway 70 last March, a jury agreed yesterday.

Twenty minutes after receiving the case from Judge Kinkle late yesterday afternoon, the jury in Criminal Court, First Division, cleared Mr. Kaisi of a manslaughter charge. Although two others lost their lives as a result of the collision, the state was trying Mr. Kaisi only for the death of Mrs. Messer. Mr. Kaisi’s exoneration yesterday in all probability means the state will not prosecute in the other two deaths.

Two Cars Collided

Autos driven by Mr. Kaisi and Mrs. Messer’s husband P. M. Messer, superintendent of the Buckeye Cotton Oil Co.’s Jackson Avenue plant, collided near Berclair Street on Highway 70 about 11:30 the night of March 25. Mrs. Cue Carter Warf of 570 North Manassas, an employee of Britling’s Cafeteria, who was riding with Mr. Kaisi, died of injuries.

Frank Williams, who lived on Highway 64, a Buckeye employee and an occupant of the car driven by Mr. Messer, also died of injuries following the crash.

Mr. Kisi testified that a party of five including Mrs. Warf and Miss Armenta McDaniel of 1378 Agnes, each had two drinks from a fifth of whisky at a Madison Avenue cafe. The party then went to the Palms on Highway 70. Each had two drinks there, leaving only a small amount of liquor in the bottle. It was to purchase another bottle the he and Mrs. Warf had departed the party and were driving toward the city when the accident occurred, he testified.

Momentarily Blinded

Mr. Kaisi testified he was driving in the proper center lane at 30 to 35 miles an hour when the crash happened. He was sober but had been momentarily blinded by the lights of another car just prior to the collision, he said.

His sobriety was verified by Miss McDaniel, a state’s witness, and by a Navy medical report introduced by Preston Battle, his attorney. The report showed a Bogen’s test, to reveal the alcoholic concentration in a person’s blood was made of Mr. Kaisi on his arrival at the Navy Hospital a short time after the accident. The test disclosed Mr. Kaisi was sober at that time.

Mr. Messer testified Mr. Kaisi was speeding 60 miles an hour when the crash occurred, and that the Kaisi auto made a 45 degree turn from the right side of the highway into his car.

[The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 19 Mar 1947; Pg 15]

Completely confident of being cleared of a manslaughter charge, Robert C. Kaisi, former Navy enlisted man at Millington, played with his baby while the jury deliberated yesterday. After 20 minutes, the jury made the Kaisis and their nine-month-old baby, Kathleen even happier.

Bozo Williams Family

Father: Thomas Jefferson ‘Bozo’ Williams (1876-1935)
Mother: Fannie Cotton Richardson Williams – Mama Fannie (1876-1960)

Siblings:

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