BENNETT, OLDEST MESSENGER "BOY" IN NORFOLK, IS FOUND DEAD, VICTIM OF GAS LIGHT
Wallace Bennett, dean of the Norfolk telegraph messengers, has delivered his last message. Death was the recipient. He was found dead in his room at 211 Tazewell Street, at 10:30 yesterday morning, the victim of escaping gas.
Bennett was last seen alive Sunday about noon, when he told acquaintances at the house where he lived that he was not feeling well and that he was going to his room for a nap.
Sixty-one years old, Mr. Bennett had the agility and energy of the youngsters with whom he worked at the Western Union office and telegrams given to him for delivery were never delayed. Although he had four sons who were willing to provide for him in his old age, he preferred the personal independence that labor and industry alone can bring.
When the European war drained this country of its young manhood, Mr. Bennett sent his four sons to fight overseas and contributed his own bit by delivering telegrams, thus releasing an able bodied youth for martial duty.
One of his four sons lost his life in France. One of the others, Floyd, is now at the aviation station at the Naval Operating Base; another is in California and the third is in New York.
For three years, this gray haired messenger, in his blue uniform was a conspicuous figure on the streets as he hurried about, either on foot or by bicycle.
Mr. Bennett was a work as usual, Saturday. In the afternoon he complained of feeling ill and Sunday he did not report for work. Owing to his irregular hours at home, the fact that he was not seen about the house from Sunday until Tuesday aroused no apprehension on the part of his friends. Yesterday morning his landlady smelled gas at his door. Going inside she found him dead. Gas escaping through a slow leak in the lighting apparatus in the room had asphyxiated him while he was sleeping, it is believed.
Mr. Bennett, friends say, had always entertained a lively horror for illuminating gas, owning to the fact that his brother died from the effects of it several years ago.
A few months ago Mr. Bennett, while riding his bicycle in Granby Street, near Twelfth, was on this occasion struck by a trolley car and thrown from his wheel, sustaining a broken arm.
The funeral will take place at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning at L.L. Williams Funeral Apartments, Granby and Twenty-ninth Streets and will be conducted by Rev. F.W. Putney of Central Baptist Church. Burial will be in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Virginian Pilot and The Norfolk Landmark Wednesday February 23, 1921
Wallace Bennett, dean of the Norfolk telegraph messengers, has delivered his last message. Death was the recipient. He was found dead in his room at 211 Tazewell Street, at 10:30 yesterday morning, the victim of escaping gas.
Bennett was last seen alive Sunday about noon, when he told acquaintances at the house where he lived that he was not feeling well and that he was going to his room for a nap.
Sixty-one years old, Mr. Bennett had the agility and energy of the youngsters with whom he worked at the Western Union office and telegrams given to him for delivery were never delayed. Although he had four sons who were willing to provide for him in his old age, he preferred the personal independence that labor and industry alone can bring.
When the European war drained this country of its young manhood, Mr. Bennett sent his four sons to fight overseas and contributed his own bit by delivering telegrams, thus releasing an able bodied youth for martial duty.
One of his four sons lost his life in France. One of the others, Floyd, is now at the aviation station at the Naval Operating Base; another is in California and the third is in New York.
For three years, this gray haired messenger, in his blue uniform was a conspicuous figure on the streets as he hurried about, either on foot or by bicycle.
Mr. Bennett was a work as usual, Saturday. In the afternoon he complained of feeling ill and Sunday he did not report for work. Owing to his irregular hours at home, the fact that he was not seen about the house from Sunday until Tuesday aroused no apprehension on the part of his friends. Yesterday morning his landlady smelled gas at his door. Going inside she found him dead. Gas escaping through a slow leak in the lighting apparatus in the room had asphyxiated him while he was sleeping, it is believed.
Mr. Bennett, friends say, had always entertained a lively horror for illuminating gas, owning to the fact that his brother died from the effects of it several years ago.
A few months ago Mr. Bennett, while riding his bicycle in Granby Street, near Twelfth, was on this occasion struck by a trolley car and thrown from his wheel, sustaining a broken arm.
The funeral will take place at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning at L.L. Williams Funeral Apartments, Granby and Twenty-ninth Streets and will be conducted by Rev. F.W. Putney of Central Baptist Church. Burial will be in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Virginian Pilot and The Norfolk Landmark Wednesday February 23, 1921
BENNETT, OLDEST MESSENGER "BOY" IN NORFOLK, IS FOUND DEAD, VICTIM OF GAS LIGHT
Wallace Bennett, dean of the Norfolk telegraph messengers, has delivered his last message. Death was the recipient. He was found dead in his room at 211 Tazewell Street, at 10:30 yesterday morning, the victim of escaping gas.
Bennett was last seen alive Sunday about noon, when he told acquaintances at the house where he lived that he was not feeling well and that he was going to his room for a nap.
Sixty-one years old, Mr. Bennett had the agility and energy of the youngsters with whom he worked at the Western Union office and telegrams given to him for delivery were never delayed. Although he had four sons who were willing to provide for him in his old age, he preferred the personal independence that labor and industry alone can bring.
When the European war drained this country of its young manhood, Mr. Bennett sent his four sons to fight overseas and contributed his own bit by delivering telegrams, thus releasing an able bodied youth for martial duty.
One of his four sons lost his life in France. One of the others, Floyd, is now at the aviation station at the Naval Operating Base; another is in California and the third is in New York.
For three years, this gray haired messenger, in his blue uniform was a conspicuous figure on the streets as he hurried about, either on foot or by bicycle.
Mr. Bennett was a work as usual, Saturday. In the afternoon he complained of feeling ill and Sunday he did not report for work. Owing to his irregular hours at home, the fact that he was not seen about the house from Sunday until Tuesday aroused no apprehension on the part of his friends. Yesterday morning his landlady smelled gas at his door. Going inside she found him dead. Gas escaping through a slow leak in the lighting apparatus in the room had asphyxiated him while he was sleeping, it is believed.
Mr. Bennett, friends say, had always entertained a lively horror for illuminating gas, owning to the fact that his brother died from the effects of it several years ago.
A few months ago Mr. Bennett, while riding his bicycle in Granby Street, near Twelfth, was on this occasion struck by a trolley car and thrown from his wheel, sustaining a broken arm.
The funeral will take place at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning at L.L. Williams Funeral Apartments, Granby and Twenty-ninth Streets and will be conducted by Rev. F.W. Putney of Central Baptist Church. Burial will be in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Virginian Pilot and The Norfolk Landmark Wednesday February 23, 1921
Wallace Bennett, dean of the Norfolk telegraph messengers, has delivered his last message. Death was the recipient. He was found dead in his room at 211 Tazewell Street, at 10:30 yesterday morning, the victim of escaping gas.
Bennett was last seen alive Sunday about noon, when he told acquaintances at the house where he lived that he was not feeling well and that he was going to his room for a nap.
Sixty-one years old, Mr. Bennett had the agility and energy of the youngsters with whom he worked at the Western Union office and telegrams given to him for delivery were never delayed. Although he had four sons who were willing to provide for him in his old age, he preferred the personal independence that labor and industry alone can bring.
When the European war drained this country of its young manhood, Mr. Bennett sent his four sons to fight overseas and contributed his own bit by delivering telegrams, thus releasing an able bodied youth for martial duty.
One of his four sons lost his life in France. One of the others, Floyd, is now at the aviation station at the Naval Operating Base; another is in California and the third is in New York.
For three years, this gray haired messenger, in his blue uniform was a conspicuous figure on the streets as he hurried about, either on foot or by bicycle.
Mr. Bennett was a work as usual, Saturday. In the afternoon he complained of feeling ill and Sunday he did not report for work. Owing to his irregular hours at home, the fact that he was not seen about the house from Sunday until Tuesday aroused no apprehension on the part of his friends. Yesterday morning his landlady smelled gas at his door. Going inside she found him dead. Gas escaping through a slow leak in the lighting apparatus in the room had asphyxiated him while he was sleeping, it is believed.
Mr. Bennett, friends say, had always entertained a lively horror for illuminating gas, owning to the fact that his brother died from the effects of it several years ago.
A few months ago Mr. Bennett, while riding his bicycle in Granby Street, near Twelfth, was on this occasion struck by a trolley car and thrown from his wheel, sustaining a broken arm.
The funeral will take place at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning at L.L. Williams Funeral Apartments, Granby and Twenty-ninth Streets and will be conducted by Rev. F.W. Putney of Central Baptist Church. Burial will be in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Virginian Pilot and The Norfolk Landmark Wednesday February 23, 1921
Family Members
Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
