Accident
Accidents were the leading cause of death in the CSI:D sample, and drowning was the leading cause of death among mortal accidents. There are myriad reasons why. Broad swaths of the American public did not know how to swim. Primary modes of transportation, especially early in the century, involved river routes. Mill ponds were prevalent. Children played outside—generally a good thing but occasionally a sad one. Perhaps the saddest of these incidents involved a mass May Day drowning at Boykin Mill Pond in 1860. Twenty-eight teenagers set off on a raft that hit a snag and more than twenty-five drowned, including all five children from one family. Sadder still may be the case of Noah Wesley Dawkins. In mid-June 1888, Dawkins and his friends, all African Americans, set off for a local watering hole where they ran into three white boys, one of whom offered Dawkins fifty cents if he would walk into a particular area in the creek, assuring him it wasn’t deep. It was deep, and Dawkins drowned. It is tempting to classify this as a homicide, but it is clear from testimony that the white children thought they were playing a cruel trick, not a deadly one.
Alcohol was such a critical indirect cause in so many of the accidental drownings, shootings, fires, and falls in CSI:D that it really ought to be regarded the deadliest force in nineteenth century South Carolina. In addition to these indirect roles, alcohol was the direct cause of accidental death in more than sixty cases. It was probably also a direct cause in many of the ‘exposure’ cases—bodies that were discovered outside and were thought to have died from exposure to the elements.
Nineteenth century law enforcement had no recourse to blood-alcohol tests. Even today, determining precise BACs postmortem, and working back from those to levels of inebriation at time of death, is fraught with difficulty. This meant that nineteenth-century coroners had to rely exclusively on witness testimony and the known habits of the deceased to determine alcohol’s role in producing death. Standing around a dead man, jurors found themselves passing judgment on just how drunk he had been the night before. According to witnesses, John Goodlett “seemed to be drunk.” John Agner was “sorry he was drunk.” Abe Waganan was “very funny & lively”—very drunk as [was] his custom.” Is ‘very drunk’ drop-dead drunk? It is hard to know. On the night of January 15, 1816, Angus McQueen drank more than half a gallon of spirits. “The dec’d was very much intoxicated,” noted one witness, “and fell down four times during which time he vomited upon the carpet.” Because McQueen kept getting up and falling down, the jurors determined that the falls (and the winter cold) contributed to his demise, though it is equally possible that McQueen died of alcohol poisoning. Juries were more likely to fix upon ‘intemperance’ as a clear cause of death if the deceased was a notorious addict. In December 1842, H. P. Church was discovered by his land-lady sprawled half on and half off of his bed. A “habitual drunkard” who had been continuously drinking for two weeks, she did not even bother to try and shake him awake. The inquest did not hesitate in finding that Church had died of intoxication.
The third leading cause of accidental deaths were ‘vehicular’ accidents, a catch-all category that includes drunken falls from a train and sober buckings from a horse. Further complicating this picture is the fact that many of the drownings probably belong in this category. There is little difference between falling unwitnessed off of a train and off of a boat, except that in one case you land on tracks and are quickly found where in the other you wash downstream, far from the site of the accident.
Bartholomew Darby was thrown from the saddle and hit his head on a stump, his wagon then “running over his head ... & breaking his neck & deeply cutting him under the right ear.” Steve Yeldell fell out of his cart and broke his neck.
All such accidents pale in comparison to the staggering mortality brought to South Carolina by train. Richard Springs was “run over by a train.” Fannie Ford was “run over by a train.”A slave named Sam was “Run over by [a] train.” Almost as soon as trains arrived in these counties, there were sots to fall off of them, laborers to be crushed by them, and depressives to jump in front of them. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a technological innovation responsible for a sharper uptick in the per capita death rate. It is also clear that coroners and inquest juries were unprepared for the level of bodily violence meted out by train. The body of a slave named Berry was “very much mashed and limbs and bones severed.” William Abbott’s body was “mangled, bruised, cut and crushed.” Even so coroners and their juries were often at pains to absolve the railroad itself of any wrong-doing. Hosea Jackson “came to his death by his own carelessness and from no carelessness whatever on the part of the engineer.” The crushing of William Roberts was likewise “not caused by any dereliction of duty on the part of the rail-road employees.” With train accidents we see for the first time the question of corporate responsibility, and potential corporate liability, creeping into the inquest process.
The larger point, however, is a physical one. Moving the body at a faster speed than the body was designed to go is an enormous convenience that has to be paid for. Today vehicular accidents (car, motorcycle, and all-terrain-vehicle) are the fourth-leading cause of death among Americans after heart disease, cancer, and stroke. The nineteenth century was not particularly different, except that families moved by horse, wagon, and train—and died less often of cancer.
The fourth leading cause of accidental death in the CSI:D sample involved the discharge of firearms. Some were simple cases of men who were cleaning or handling weapons that suddenly went off. The vast majority of cases, however, involve an unfortunate bystander. In 1849, Tilman Attaway was mistaken for a turkey by his hunting buddy. In 1808, James Spradley was leaning in to watch two dogs fight over a dead deer. Fourteen-year old George Nettles sought to break up the dogs by bashing one of them with the butt of his gun. Instead the gun discharged into Spradley’s face. As this case attests, guns and children made as disastrous a pairing then as they do now. In 1820 ten-year old Mancel King accidentally shot and killed his brother. In 1899 ten-year old John McManus shot and killed his friend. “I was fooling with the pistol and it went off,” he told the inquest.
Undoubtedly some of these gun-related ‘accidents’ were not accidents at all. A dead man alone in a room might have been cleaning his gun, or he might have harbored hidden miseries. Similarly some of the accidental misfires on bystanders were probably intentional homicides. Unless new evidence emerges at this late date, however, such cases will have to remain categorized as accidents.
The fifth leading cause of death by accident in the CSI:D sample was death by suffocation—another category that speaks more to what a coroner was called to investigate than to what people actually died from. A majority of the ‘smothering’ deaths were probably SIDS victims. In white households such cases would not have been investigated—infant mortality was relatively high in the period and a white family’s ‘dear pledges’ were often ‘recalled to God.’ But in a society where every enslaved child was as potentially valuable as a Lexus, infant death in the quarter was more rigorously investigated. Coupled with deep prejudices against enslaved mothers, inquests typically found that an unnamed “negro Child” was “negligently Smothered” by its mother, or that the enslaved child Lora was “accidentally smothered” in the family bed, or that the enslaved children Henry and Alcy were crushed in the night, having being “overlaid” by their parents. It is possible that such ‘negligence’ did occur among overworked and overtired slaves, and such findings were far preferable to those cases where enslaved parents were charged with infanticide.
The sixth leading cause of death by accident in the CSI:D sample was death by fire. Most homes in the period were made of wood. Most had fireplaces. None had a fire extinguisher. Fire was light and life, but it was also occasionally death. In 1866 a freedman named Sloan was burnt to death in a gin house. In 1890 a child named Julia Hightower wandered too close to the family fireplace. Her younger sister tried to dowse her with water to no avail.
These six types of accidental death—drowning, alcohol abuse, transportation mishaps, gun miscues, suffocations, and fires—account for 75% of the accidental deaths in the CSI:D sample. Other relatively common accidents involved falling trees and limbs, industrial accidents, and poisonings and overdoses. Rounding out the sample were accidents that were more unique. Home alone, Medora Williams had an epileptic seizure and fell into her own fireplace. Traveling with the Bailey & Company circus, George West was gored by his own elephant. (Some might not consider this an ‘accident’ since the elephant had ‘cause’; and acted with ‘intent.’)
NEXT: Natural Causes
Accident Inquests
Name | Deceased Description | Date | Inquest Location | Death Method | Inquest Finding |
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W. W. Miller | January 13, 1930 | at Jefferson, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: By Being Bound drowned in an open well on Main St. of Jefferson by unknown means. |
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Bluford Papley | November 3, 1889 | on the plantation of Thos L Badgett, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Bluford Paply came to his death ("by the Explosion of Thos L Badgetts Boiler") |
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Peggyann Goings | at S.R. Rutland's, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say that aforsaid children came to their deaths by accidental burning of the house in which they were fastined up on the morning of the 16th of March 1893. We also add our condemnation to the general practice of Colored Parents locking up helpless children in houses where there is fire. |
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Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there Oaths do say that the said Jim Coleman came to his death by accidently falling in to horse Creek and drowning |
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Toney Clawson | February 16, 1873 | at Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Toney Clawson came to his death by accidental drowning while attempting to cross a small streamunusually swollen from heavy rains |
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Bob | slave | December 26, 1845 | at the residence Mr. Parks, Kershaw County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that he came to his death by being drunk and exposed to the weather which was wet and very cold |
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Joe Church | March 12, 1941 | at Pageland, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Joe Church received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by Suffocation and burn from fire in jail cell occupied by himself |
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Margaret McKeown | May 5, 1860 | at Boykin's Mill, Kershaw County, SC | |||
Ben F. Williams | March 13, 1895 | at M. C. Williams, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say Ben F. Williams came to his death by accident or misfortune |
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Robert Johnston | May 23, 1891 | at Clarks Ferry below bridge on C. & G.[?] R R, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say by Mischance and accidentally falling into Saluda river |
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James W. Craven | October 12, 1830 | at the Tumbling shoals, Laurens County, SC |
A jury being summoned and sworn do find that the said James V Craven came to his death by Accidentally having been drowned in the river. |
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James Brooks | March 28, 1884 | near where Ferguson Creek enters South Tyger River, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths aforesaid do say that in said Ferguson Creek ... said James Brooks came to his death by accidental drowning |
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Rachal Hough | August 28, 1888 | at Millers Bridge, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say That Rachal Hough in manner and form aforesaid came to his death by misfortune or accident |
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Euphemia Jones | child | February 6, 1894 | on the plantation of Mr. Stroud, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say the said Euphemia Jones here deceased came to her death from being burned, by accident, whereunto we the jurors and coroner here set our names and seals. |
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Unknown | July 13, 1830 | at Rocky Mount Ferry, Fairfield County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that upon the evidence adduced that the said child was found on the evening of the 18th Inst. found in a fish Trap near the above named ferry prior to that time they are not able to asertain and from not being able to asertain any marks of violence do believe to[?] come to its death by being drowned |
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Thomas D. Cook | April 10, 1854 | at Stover's Ferry on Savannah River, Anderson County, SC |
do say that Thomas D. Cook came to his death by accidental drowning |
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Calvin Lemmon | at Dawkins, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that he was instantly killed by the explosion of J.S. Swygerts engine, while deceased was firing the engine[.] |
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William Davis | January 16, 1841 | at or near the residence of Alex. McMakin, Spartanburg County, SC |
[do say that] not having God before his eyes but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil came to his untimely end. . .by drinking intoxicating spirits to an excess and attemting [sic] to vomet [sic] and strangled so that he finally lost his Breath and departed this life |
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Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that the decased came to his death by being intoxicated and caught on fire and burnt to death in his own house |
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Judith Berry | December 17, 1811 | near Swift Creek ... [at] home of James Berry, Kershaw County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that the said Berry to came to her death by a violent burn which she received from her clothes taking fire at the fireplace in the house of James Berry . . . of which she instantly died. |
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Peter Gadsden | November 28, 1873 | near Doko[?], Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say: That on the night of the twentieth day of November 1873, before the hour of midnight the said Peter Gadsden being alone in the house, on the Plantation of L.M.[?] Bookhart[?] was burned to death by the accidental catching of fire to the building near the chimney which resulted int he destruction of the building and the death of said Peter Gadsden, and that...Peter Gadsden...came to his death by accidental burning |
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Richard Stenhouse | November 1, 1857 | at the house of Richard Stenhouse, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the deceased Richard Stenhouse was killed . . . by the accidental falling of a tree near his own house. |
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Alick Croker | boy | September 29, 1878 | at Mrs. Marshes premises, Edgefield County, SC |
Upon there oaths do say that the said Alick Croker came to his death by drownding |
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William Smith | December 16, 1874 | at Snow Hill, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the said William Smith & Furman Smith came to their death by misfortune or accidently being burned |
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Unknown Infant | Unknown Infant | March 10, 1883 | at the house of Peter Blakeney, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say That said child in manner and form aforesaid came to its death by misfortune or accident |
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Jonathan Newman | October 9, 1869 | at the late residence of Jonathan C. Newman, Kershaw County, SC |
upon their oaths do say said deceased came to his death by the accidental or providential caving of a well at his own residence |
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John Dawkins | July 14, 1904 | [in] Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Chesterfield County, SC |
before their oaths do say that the said John Dawkins caused to his death by his own negligence |
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Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott, Edgefield County, SC |
Upon their Oaths do say, that the dead body of Tom lying in the branch near the residence of Henry Scott . . .came to his death, by accident or misfortune |
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infant child | infant child | January 18, 1892 | at the Plantation of L. G. Swearinger, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say from suffocation |
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John Groce | June 12, 1876 | at John Groce's, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that he John P. Groce came to his death . . . by accidental drowning in the mill pond of W J Bates while bathing in company with P D Bates, Morgan Flynn and Benjame Cannon[?] |
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Lafayette Valentine | January 1, 1873 | at Jack Valentines, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Lafayette Valentine came to his death by the accidental firing of a Pistol in the hands of J.B. Watts. |
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James L. Cathcart | February 18, 1889 | at Wm. Cathcart's, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that James L. Cathcart came to his death by accident of a gun shot in his own hands |
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Charlie Woodard | November 15, 1915 | at H. L. Woodards, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: By accidental gunshot from his own hands |
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John Henry Goudelock | June 3, 1882 | at Bethlehem Grove Church, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that he came to his death by being burned in the dwelling house of Jane Goudelock which is included in Laurens County, State of South Carolina. The cause or origin of the said fire is to this jury unknown. |
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Lena Hutchinson | October 20, 1873 | Anderson County, SC |
do say according to their knowledge and belief according to the evidence that she came to her death by accident by being burned to death |
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Caroline Rhodes | April 17, 1865 | at Burnt Factory, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that she came to her death by accidental drowning in Tyger River just below A. Floyd's mill dam |
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slave | slave | January 17, 1827 | near McRae's mills, Kershaw County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that he came to it by intemperate drinking & exposure to the cold in an open field |
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Loucille Pate Cassidy | June 19, 1939 | at Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Loucille Pate Cassidy received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by a pistol |
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infant | infant | December 13, 1851 | at A. J. Gregorys, Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that it was accidently smoothered by its mother |
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Jerry | May 16, 1808 | at the Mill House of Henry Brockman, Laurens County, SC |
do say upon their oaths, the said Negrow man Jerry came to his Death by being Intoxicated in Liquor and Indeavoring to cross the Enoree River... between Laurens & Spartanburgh Districts that then & there the sd. Negrow Jerry got strangled sufficated & Drowned & from all appearance contrary to the wife sd. Negrow by mischance or accident. |
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Richard Mims | August 1, 1899 | at the plantation of Mrs. H. Carter, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do Say: that Richard Mims came to his death by a pistol Shot in the hands of John McManus . . . accidental Shot of John McManus |
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Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that the diceased Came to his death by the falling of a tree top which struck him on the Head frackturing the sckull . . .by Misfortune and Contrary to his will |
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Infant child of Laurens & Nelly Simpson | Infant child of Laurens & Nelly Simpson | June 18, 1890 | at Laurens Simpsons, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said infant child came to its death by "Accidental Smothering." |
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Rock Pearson | January 15, 1878 | at G.B. Pearson's, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say the deceased came to his death by mischance. That Rock Pearson in manner and form aforesaid, caem to his death by misfortune or accident |
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John Stafford | December 16, 1831 | Spartanburg County, SC |
do say upon their oaths he came to his death by accidentally drowning in a state of intoxication |
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J. J. Gulladge | December 24, 1869 | at the house of J. J. Gulladge, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that J J Gulledge did come to his death by accident |
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Joseph A. McJunkin | March 15, 1858 | at Wm Hawkins House, Union County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that they believe the Decd came to his death from what testimony they can get from a [?] Fits[?] & in that condition had fallen in to the river where he Decsd was Fishing & drowned |
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Handy Papley | November 3, 1889 | on the plantation of Thos L Badgett, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say - that the said Handy Papley came to his death "by the Explosion of an Engine boiler." |
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Francis Sanders | April 27, 1848 | at Sakin's[?] Mill, Fairfield County, SC |
we the Jurors do find and [?] that the said Francis Sanders; came to his death by drowning in the Broad River on the 26th[?] April 1848. |
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Jesse Goings | at S.R. Rutland's, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say that aforsaid children came to their deaths by accidental burning of the house in which they were fastined up on the morning of the 16th of March 1893. We also add our condemnation to the general practice of Colored Parents locking up helpless children in houses where there is fire. |