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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Leola Sellers | June 20, 1932 | at W. A. Sellers in Cole hill, Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
upon their oaths, do say: that Cola Sellars came to his death struck by a car Diven by Marion Johnson |
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Helen Boykin | August 4, 1936 | at Middendorf, Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
upon their oaths do say that Beauregard Alson & Helen Boykin received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by Automobile Collision at the hands of Robert Davis |
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Earnest Tolson | August 31, 1937 | at Patrick, Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
upon their oaths do say that Earnest Tolson received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by Stuck By Automobile Motor in the hands of Edward Tolson (accidental means) |
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James Lynch | December 29, 1945 | at Mt Croghan, Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
upon their oaths do say that James Lynch received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by J. U. Eudy Car Accident in the hands of J. U. Eudy - Unavoidable |
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Daniel Sams Jr. | April 8, 1924 | at Black Creek, Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
the Verdict of the Jury and Medical examination that the said Danial Sams came to his Death by Misfortune and Accident, by Ford Car, The Said Daniel Sams jr Resides in Hoffman N.C. |
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Lennie Pope | January 24, 1940 | at Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
upon their oaths do say that Heck Curry, Tom Oliver, Lennie Pope received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by automobile collision in the hands of Heck Curry |
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Hester Johnson Shaw | July 19, 1947 | McBee, S.C., Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
upon their oaths do say that Mrs. Hester Johnson Shaw received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by Pontiac Automobile in the hands of Sgt. James Holly |
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Beauregard Alson Jr. | August 4, 1936 | at Middendorf, Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
upon their oaths do say that Beauregard Alson & Helen Boykin received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by Automobile Collision at the hands of Robert Davis |
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Margret Faye Davis | September 22, 1941 | at Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
upon their oaths do say that Margret Faye Davis received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by being hit accidently by an automobile in the hands of Robert Lee Smith |
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Faye Bennett | February 6, 1938 | at Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
upon their oaths do say that Faye Bennett received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by Being struck by automobile in the hands of J. M. McDonald |
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Emma Ellerbe | April 6, 1925 | at McBee, Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
the verdict was brought out. . .That one Emma Ellerbe in manner and form aforsaid came to her death by misfortune and Accident. By being struck by auto accidently. |
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Devoid Gulledge | September 10, 1942 | at Patrick, S.C, Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
upon their oaths do say that Devoid Gulledge received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by Transport Truck in the hands of Gordon Deardorff |
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Ida Edwards | October 1, 1938 | [no location given], Chesterfield County, SC | automobile |
[No official declaration] |
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John G. Tyler | January 28, 1868 | at M.r Allens Store, Horry County, SC | alcohol |
upon their oaths do Say the Deceased came to Death from the effects of ardent Sperits administered of himself by his own act |
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Louisa Wooden | October 13, 1893 | at Mose Woden, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the deceased Louisa Wooden came to her death by an accidental gunshot wound in the hands of Moses Wooden |
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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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Center | December 14, 1853 | at Jos. Willinghams, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say, all cirumstance of the case show conclusively that Center was accidentaally drowned in Little River last Sunday evening |
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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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James Hindman | February 11, 1875 | Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that in their opinion the said James Hindman came to his death by misfortune caused by fits or convulsions producing derangment ina high degree being found drowned in James Creek |
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Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that. . .came to his death by a gun shot wound accidently done in the hands of Ellie a freedwoman |
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J. B. Deas | February 6, 1936 | at Cheraw, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that J. B. Deas received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by Single Barrell Shot gun in the hands of Durant Easterling & Sinclair Sellers |
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William Gaston | April 30, 1837 | at the house of James N. Gaston, Spartanburg County, SC |
say upon their oaths that the aforesaid William Gaston ... came to his death by the accidental falling of a tree |
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Willie Chappell | June 18, 1882 | at Badgetts quarter, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Willie Chappell came to his death at Badgetts quarter place in Laurens County on Sunday the 20th day of June AD 1882 That Lucinda Bradford the said Willie Chappell by misfortune and contrary to her will in manner and form aforesaid did kill... |
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Augusta Sullivan | August 4, 1896 | at Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Chesterfield County, SC |
from the best information could be gathered came to his death by misschance or by accidental drowning in the mill pond of J. A. McMillan |
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Luis Ratcliff | May 1, 1874 | at C. A. Mores, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the Said George Ratcliff Maggie Ratcliff & Luis Ratcliff came to there deaths by being accidently Burnt |
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Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths Say that the negro man Henry came to his death from being accidentally drowned in the Savannah river |
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William McAbee | April 8, 1885 | Spartanburg County, SC | |||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths aforesaid do say that the aforesaid James Frazier did die from Suffocation |
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Marim Evans Hudson | July 28, 1942 | at Cheraw, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Marim Evans Hudson received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by a pistol accidently discharged in the hands of Ira W. Boun, Jr. |
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Younger son of Joe Cunningham | Younger son of Joe Cunningham | March 26, 1908 | [no location given], Chesterfield County, SC |
[No official declaration] |
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Daniel Bragg | February 6, 1815 | at the plantation of Daniel Brag, Laurens County, SC |
do say upon their oaths saith that on the 5th of this instant in striving to save a negroe man he got drowned. |
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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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Tom Purvis | February 5, 1912 | at T. A. Hendricks Res, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: Tom Purvis came to his death By Accidental Gun Shot wound in the Hands of Ray Hendrick |
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Isaac Davis | February 27, 1880 | at Jas. R. McGills, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say, the deceased came to his death by a well caving in, covering and smothering him to death at Jas. R. McGills, near Monticello. And so the jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths, do say that Isaac Davis in manner and form aforesaid came to his death by misfortune or accident. |
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Stephen | slave | December 18, 1860 | at Mr. M. Mungo, Kershaw County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Stephen came to his death from a fall and which caused his neck to break |
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Willis Watson | June 14, 1876 | at the river bank on Saulda one mile above Gambell old Bridge, Anderson County, SC |
do say that said decd came to his death by accidental drowning in the River of Saluda. |
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Isabella McClain | September 15, 1873 | at Conwayboro, Horry County, SC |
upon their Oaths do Say that She Came to her death by a Gun Shot Inflicted by one Cesar Beaty, though we Consider the whole transaction accidental |
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Nancy James | March 13, 1875 | at Thomas[?] Fegins[?], Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: She came to her death bye falling in a ditch |
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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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Medora Williams | April 4, 1878 | at Spartanburg C.H., Spartanburg, S.C., Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Medora Williams while alone in her house ... fell into the fire and was burned to death while suffering from a fit or fainting |
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Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oath do say that the Said Howard Gale came to his death by accidental droning |
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Lincoln Gregory | March 5, 1938 | at Pageland, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Lincoln Gregory received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by Rifle Shot in the hands of Bryalus McManns |
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negro man | negro man | August 7, 1853 | at or near Wm [?] old Mill, Union County, SC |
Can Clude that the Said negro man Came to his Death by drowing |
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John Baswell | February 16, 1860 | at the plantation of Abner McVay, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that John Baswell came to his death by misfortune or accident |
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Alfred Gage | May 21, 1890 | at Milton, Laurens County, SC |
by their oaths do say that the said Alfred Gage came to his death "By Accidental Drowning in little river at the Mills at Milton. |
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Eliga Clark | April 18, 1906 | at Purvis Brige in Cheraw Town ship, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: that Eliga Clark came to his death by causes unknown to the jury |
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Fletcher McFarland | January 17, 1881 | at Davis McFarlands, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say That the Said Fletcher McFarland came to his death by being burned and that it was accidently |
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Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley, Edgefield County, SC |
Upon their oaths do say, that his death was caused by a gun shot wound in the right side, under the right arm, received in the cotton field of George R. Sawyer . . .from a shot gun tehn and there charged with powder and Shot in the hand, or arms of John Flour[?], brother of deceased then and there casually and by misfortune |
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Lewis Jackson | July 23, 1889 | at Squire Jackson's, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that Lewis Jackson came ot his death by being crushed in the machinery of the Brick mill of the Spartanburg Factory by carelessness of the Deceased and disobeying the orders of the foreman |
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Truman Miles | October 22, 1839 | at Anderson Courthouse, Anderson County, SC |
do say that said Truman Miles. . . .at Anderson Court House was found dead that he had no marks of violence afore him and died by the [?] of God from the many severe falls he received when in a state of intoxication and not otherwise |