On December 23rd, 1929, a man named Harry Leaman was killed at around 7:30 p.m. Son of the late Joe and Mary Leaman, he was the last of his relatives, but was well-known and loved by the members of the Dentsville community. He had been a jockey in his younger days, leaving home at the age of fifteen to pursue his chosen work and race in several different states: Maryland, Virginia, and Ohio, to name a few.
Leaman was seventy-four years old at the time of his death, and he was hit by a car in front of the store he operated in Dentsville. At the time the first article was published about his death, it was unknown whether it was the fault of the driver or of Leaman himself. Frank Peak, the driver of the vehicle, claimed that Leaman threw himself in front of the car, and Peak’s two passengers, R.L. Branham and C.R. Bowen, said the same. It was unknown at the time whether Peak and his friends were telling the truth; but Frank Dent, who owned the store that Leaman operated, said that a week before the accident, Leaman approached him and asked that, if anything were to happen to him, Dent would notify S.L. Sweeney, a friend of Leaman’s. This seemingly unusual request served as a further symbol of debate as to whether the death was purposeful or accidental.
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