Deerfield Beach Man Killed in Head-On Automobile Crash

A Deerfield Beach, Florida caretaker is dead and another man lies seriously injured in Broward General Hospital today, March 1, 1950, as the result of a shattering, head-on collision between two automobiles on the Old Dixie Highway, north of Oakland Park, Wednesday afternoon.

Robert Edwin Henry, 57, Deerfield Beach, was reported dead on arrival at the hospital by Highway Patrolman, S.R. Walker, who investigated the accident. In serious condition, with a brain concussion is Judson McClain Plummer, 40, Oakland Park.

The crash occurred at 3:05 p.m. at the intersection of Prospect Rd and the Old Dixie Hwy, about a mile north of the Oakland Park city limits. Each man was alone in his car when the vehicles crashed slightly west of the center line of the road.

According to Walker, Plummer claimed that he was driving south on the highway at about 50 mph when Henry, travelling in the opposite direction, suddenly swerved in front of him. Both cars were demolished in the collision. The engine in Henry’s car was pushed back almost as far as the front seat.

Walker said he detected the odor of liquor on the breath of both men and reported finding a partly-emptied bottle of gin tucked inside Henry’s shirt. The patrolman added that a decision on possible charges against Plummer would be withheld until results of a test of the man’s blood for alcohol content were available.

Henry, a retired chain store superintendent, came to Deerfield Beach from Olney, Illinois, three years ago. Henry was born July 31, 1893 in Olney, Illinois a son of Charles V. and Mary M. (Hedrick) Henry. He was a WWI U.S. Army veteran.

He is survived by his wife, Flora (Timmons) Henry, principal of the Deerfield Beach elementary school; two daughters, Mrs. Mary Ann McCarty of McGee, Miss and Mrs. Roberta Burda of Columbia, S.C.; a brother and three sisters.

Funeral services in Deerfield Beach Baptist Church with burial in Crescent Hill Memorial Gardens, Columbia, S.C.

Published in Fort Lauderdale News (FL) – Thursday, March 2, 1950