"We Killed a Man"

I feel a sense of urgency to write down as much as I can of what Walter can tell me. This is a story he told me as we drove home from Columbiana, where we had eaten lunch.

Somewhere on Hwy. 25 between Calera and the railroad track that is just before you turn to go to Walter’s house, is a spot that he said an incident occurred that made him more afraid than he had ever been in his life. He was riding home from a basketball game with his coach, Coach Collins. They had been to Birmingham somewhere to play a basketball game and were returning home at night. The Coach was driving and hit a man who was walking along the road and killed him. The Coach sent Walter down into the ditch where the man had been thrown to find him and see how he was. Walter said it was the worst thing he had ever seen. He said he had seen many dead bodies since then, but that one was the worst thing he had ever seen. He said both of the man’s legs were broken and the bones were sticking through the skin and his pants. The coach sent Walter to the nearest house, which was about ½ mile behind them. Walter said he ran as fast as he could (Walter was quite fast in those days, the fastest runner my dad had ever seen, Dad said) to the Argo house. He said that a car came alone and Walter flagged it down. The car stopped and Walter put his foot up on the running board of the car and told the driver that he needed to help them because, "We killed a man down the road" and he needed to get help. He said the man just put the car in gear and drove away as fast as he could without helping. Walter said that looking back on it, he guessed the man thought they had murdered somebody. Walter finally made it to the Argo house and they came out to help. I am not sure what they did. There was no 911 in those days. I am not sure if the Argos had a phone or if they got in their car/truck and went to the scene to help or both. This is an incident that Walter has told to me several times. It made a huge impression on him as it would on any high school kid with that horrific experience. I wanted to get it written down as soon after I heard it again, so that I would not remember the details that Walter had remembered.