On late Tuesday night on July 13, 1920, a fire truck from Fire Company No. 1 of the Winston-Salem Fire Department responded to a distress signal from a fire alarm box. The truck sped down Liberty Street with all the firefighters. A car pulled onto Liberty Street from Fifth Street. At the time, a police wagon was also parked on the right side of the street in front of the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company and another vehicle was on the left parked by the Dean Hotel. On Liberty Street, the fire truck has slowed to turn on to Fifth Street. Suddenly, a moving car came out from behind the police wagon. The action blocked the street except for a few feet. To avoid an accident, the fire truck driver, J. L. Snyder, applied his brakes and swerved his vehicle sharply, but it began to skid on the street that was still wet after being cleansed by the “street flusher.”
The swerving fire truck turned around completely. Eyewitnesses reported that the vehicle spun completely around two and a half times and went 500 feet before it stopped. Three firemen were thrown from the vehicle. W. J. Eaton experienced only minor injuries. However, J. D. George and David L. Reavis suffered critical wounds. They men had to bee taken to City Hospital. George had a laceration between the thigh and knee and suffered from shock and an injured back. Reavis had a serious groin injury, shock, and possibly internal injuries. Despite the terrible accident, every eyewitness commented on the coolness of Snyder in keeping the fire truck in an upright position. The Winston-Salem Journal of July 14, 1920 noted it was “a miracle that they [firefighters] were not ground to death between the wheels of the truck.” Unfortunately, Fireman Reavis did not survive the accident. He died on the morning of July 14.
At the time of his death, Reavis was twenty-seven years old and married to Nora (Shermer) Reavis. They had two small children; one of them was only six weeks old. The fireman was a native of Yadkin County. At the time of his death, Reavis had been with the fire department for only two months. His company captain, W. G. Hobson, extolled Reavis as one of the top firefighters. Capt. Hobson said, as quoted in the Winston-Salem Journal of July 16, 1920:
He showed as much promise as any new man I have ever seen. He was a good workman always willing to do more than his share, and as fine a man in principles as I’ve ever know.
Reavis’ whole company also offered praise and sorrow over their comrade’s death. The firefighter was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery near Yadkinville.
Reavis’ death was more appalling because the fire alarm to which his company had responded turned out to be false. According to the Winston-Salem Journal of July 14, 1920, Winston-Salem Fire Department chief, Harry E. Nissen, was “greatly incensed over the accident, stating that some person had maliciously turned in a false alarm, as no fire was found in the vicinity of box No. 14.” At that time, the fire department had been constantly bothered by false alarms. The newspaper on that day also noted that it was said if any of the firemen passed away, the culprit would be guilty of murder.
The parties responsible for the false alarm turned out to be three young boys. By July 22, 1920, they had been arrested. Following an appeal from Municipal Court, the boys appeared before Judge T. B. Finley in Forsyth County Superior Court on August 6, 1920, being charged with giving a false fire alarm and with murder. All three males pleaded guilty to giving a false fire alarm. For this charge, the court fined them twenty five dollars and for court costs. The fines were stayed until October court term when final judgments against the offenders were to be handed down. Fortunately, for the boys, the murder charges were dismissed. According to the Winston-Salem Journal of August 7, the prosecuting attorney “could not find that the alarm was the direct cause of homicide.” On October 9, 1920, the superior court let the boys off for showing good behavior.
