Carriage driver suffers minor injuries in morning accident

Published 12:23 am Thursday, November 29, 2012

Ben Hillyer | The Natchez Democrat — Natchez carriage driver Mike Folds picks up the pieces after a car hit his carriage Wednesday morning.

NATCHEZ — The driver of a downtown horse carriage was left with a few bumps and bruises Wednesday morning after a car driver rear-ended his carriage.

Mike Folds, the owner of the carriage, said his brother Cecil Folds was knocked out of the carriage when a driver struck the back of the carriage at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Canal Street near Fat Mama’s Tamales.

Even with a missing wheel and no driver, Mack, the horse pulling the carriage, continued to the carriages’ usual parking spot at the corner of Canal and State streets, dragging the carriage, Folds said.

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“That horse has been doing this so long, if he could talk, no (driver) would even have to go with him,” Folds said.

The other wheel of the carriage, Folds said, got stuck on a telephone pole as Mack was dragging it, and Adams County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Wayne Rabb said Mack then tore loose from the carriage.

Rabb, who was driving on Canal Street and saw the aftermath of the accident, said the horse went behind Pig Out Inn and was caught by a tourist visiting from Virginia.

“He said the horse just came right up to him,” Rabb said.

Mack was uninjured in the accident.

The carriage is out of commission until it can be repaired, Folds said. He said the car driver’s insurance company representative came by Wednesday to take a look at the damage to the carriage.

“It’s going to take a lot of money,” he said.