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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Mary Hinson | May 5, 1860 | at Boykin's Mill, Kershaw County, SC | |||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that Elmira Jackson Come to her death from accidental Burning |
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Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?], Edgefield County, SC |
who came to his death by drowning in Butlers Mill Pond |
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Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that at woods childs house. . .by a single barrel shot gun lying in the loft of said house and started to fall and Siche Chiles caught the gun and it struck the joist and fired |
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Jack | slave [runaway] | November 21, 1835 | at Andersonville, Anderson County, SC |
do say that Elias E. Harrison ... a certain gun of the value of seven dollars then and there charged with gun powder and leaden buck shot, which he the said Elias E. Harrison then and there had and held in both is hands, then and there accidently and by misfortune and against the will of him the said Elias E. Harrison discharged and....and shot out of the said gun him the said negro man in and upon the right arm, shoulder and back of the head....ten wounds with said shot, which were mortal wounds |
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Isaac | slave | May 16, 1836 | near Cowpen Furnace, Spartanburg County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that the said Isaac came to his death by accident or misfortune by the bank falling on him ... in the iron mine |
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Addora Wallace | Fairfield County, SC |
we the undersigned Jurymen do hereby find the following verdict That Addora Wallace came to her death by drowning not Known to the Jury. |
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Eloise Bird | April 23, 1879 | at Greenville, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Eloise Bird . . .came to her death . . .by misfortune or accident |
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Benjamin Anderson | December 22, 1873 | at Cheraw, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the said Benjamin Anderson came to his death from excessive use of Liquor & exposure to cold |
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Siller | female slave | November 12, 1842 | at an oald wast house in the plantation of Mrs Susannah Turners, Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say, that . . .the said Siller axcidently caught fire in her beding whilst a sleep, and from inability to help her Self ware burned to death |
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John Elmore | January 3, 1883 | at Aaron Elmore home on LE Foleys plantation, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said John Elmore came to his death by misfortune or accident |
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John Wilkins | December 7, 1900 | at the Residence of C.F. Morrison, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon theair oaths do say that John Wilkins deceast came to his death By a pistol shot fired from his own hand acdential |
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Samuel | Negro Man | Anderson County, SC |
the Decd had been missing ever since Sunday. . .he would search the Mill pond as he had been seen in the neighborhood?and found him floating on the water in the pond about 12 feet from the Dam. . .That he knew of no enemy the Decd had had never heard of any threats--thought it was accidental. |
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Tip Jackson | November 29, 1885 | near New Prospect, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Tip Jackson came to his death by accidentally falling down a steep bank about fourteen feet, his neck falling across a log causing suffocation new New Prospect on the Mills Gap Road about midnight |
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Jefferson | slave | July 27, 1840 | at the plantation of H.R. Cook, Kershaw County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said boy Jefferson came to his death by a gun shot wound inflicted upon him accidentally by a boy named Isaac belonging to Capt. B. Haile. |
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James Hillian | November 21, 1911 | [no location given], Chesterfield County, SC |
[No official declaration] |
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Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence, Edgefield County, SC |
Upon their oaths do say, that the boy Charles . . .came to his death by being burnt to death in an old house, accidently caught fire in some unknown or misterious way to us |
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Elizabeth McKagen | May 5, 1860 | at Boykin's Mill, Kershaw County, SC | |||
Edward F. Lyles | June 12, 1879 | at Wm J. Martin's, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say the deceased came to his death by a gunshot wound accidentally discharged in his own hands. |
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W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the Deceased came to his death from Heart failure and Exposure |
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Gabriel Gibson | April 18, 1819 | at Elbethel Meeting house, Union County, SC |
Doe say upon their oaths that . . .Gabriel Gibson Came to his End By Mischance & Say that he was Spliting Roling Down A Decent |
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George Gardner | January 22, 1935 | in Chesterfield County, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say that George Gardner received . . . mortal wound by Rifle Shot in the hand of Rance Cue some being unavoidable accident |
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Sam | October 31, 1840 | at the house of Nelson [?], Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said boy Sam came to his death by the shot of a gun -which gun was accidently shot by a negro boy Allen about 8 years of age |
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Thomas J. Geer | November 23, 1860 | Thomas J. Geer's residence, Anderson County, SC |
do say the said Thomas Green did . . . in the fore noon of the same day came to his death by fits and accidental drowning |
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John R. Edwards | March 24, 1858 | Spartanburg County, SC |
find J.R. Edwards came to his death by fall or drowning |
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William Watson | near the Harrison Ferry on the Wateree River, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the aforesaid William Watson came to his death by the accidental discharge of a gun in his own hands, on the bank of the Wateree river on the afternoon of 30th day of Jan AD 1894[.] |
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Rachail Langley | December 30, 1878 | in Spartanburg Co., Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say ... the said Rachail Langley came to her death from indigestion caused by eating too much heartily of unwholesome diet |
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Wesley Holiday | September 14, 1883 | at Joseph P. Nabor's, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the deceased came to its death by its mother turning over on it in bed, which was as we believe an accident |
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Sandy McNair | December 14, 1878 | at Peter Ingrahams, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do Say- That the said Sandy McNair came to his death by exposure to cold, producing congestion of the lungs and the internal organs; and that deceased died on the night of the 12th inst. |
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female infant Slave | female infant Slave | May 15, 1847 | at A. S. Gregorys, Union County, SC |
upon oaths do say that . . .they do believe the child must have been Smothered by its mother in bed |
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Rachiel Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say George Mitchel and his Daughter Rachiel Mitchel Came to their Deaths. . .by a Burn Caused from the Explosion of Kerosene oil |
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M. D. Smith | December 24, 1906 | at W. K. Sellars, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the said M.D. Smith Came to his death by burns by fire. |
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James Adis | June 13, 1818 | Union County, SC |
do say u[?] thr oaths that the desceased [?] come to his by being drowned |
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Jeff Jackson | January 30, 1923 | [no location given], Chesterfield County, SC |
I do not find it necessary to hold a formal inquest in my Judgment Jeff Jackson come to his death by mischance with out blame of on the part of any being person |
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Unknown | December 10, 1877 | at Alexander Harris', Fairfield County, SC |
do say that the deceased came to its death by being Smothered in bed. & that infant in manner and form afore-Said, came to its death by misfortune or accident |
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Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field, Edgefield County, SC |
Upon their oaths do say, that the said Tillman Attaway. . .was shot with a load of buck shot discharged from a gun, or pistol, and ... that he the said Samuel Webb Shot the said Tilman Attaway, with a doble barrel Shot gun accidently through a mistake for a Turkey |
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Older son of Joe Cunningham | Older son of Joe Cunningham | March 26, 1908 | [no location given], Chesterfield County, SC |
[No official declaration] |
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Booker | negro | March 30, 1823 | at the plantation called Flint Hill[?], Spartanburg County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that. . .the sd. negro. . .was axacery [sic] to his own death by drinking to [sic] much spirits and being exposed to the inclemency of the weather |
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Lizzie Coleman | at A.P. Irby's plantation, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the child Lizzie, Coleman, came to her death by burning in a house on the Plantation of Capt A.P. Irby's the 21st of Nov 1884 the origin of the fire unknown to the jury[.] |
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Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Eva Blocker. . .came to her death by accidental burning |
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O. P. Brown | October 27, 1851 | at Durbin Creek, Laurens County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that he died of a wound received by the fauling of an arch of the Bridge near J.W. Meadors across Durbin Creek which did dislocate his neck and bruise his shoulders and body |
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William Johnson | July 31, 1866 | at David Gunter's, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that he came to his death . . . in John L. Southern's mill pond by being drowned accidentally while bathing |
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Koon | female child | April 23, 1836 | at the house of Davin M[?] [?], Union County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that the said child . . .died by the visitation of God by accidentally Getting Droud in the Spring |
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John Downey | February 26, 1873 | at Winnsboro, Fairfield County, SC |
We the undersigned Jurors, find the following verdict, That the Deceased, John Downey, cam to his death the twenty fifth day of February 1873. From rupture of the spleen caus by misfortune or accident |
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Hannah Lee | March 7, 1893 | at Moor Church, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: that the deceased came to her death from natural causes |
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Crosby Irby | at Perry Irby's, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say that the deceased came to his death at his home. . .from a gun shot wound accidently fired[.] |
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Willie Sizemore | August 7, 1882 | Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths aforesaid do say that the said Willie Sizemore ... came to his death by misfortune or accident |
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Augustus Johnson | December 17, 1885 | Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Chesterfield County, SC |
Wee as sworn of in quest Believe Come to his Deth By Acdent |
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Emma Hunter | May 18, 1892 | at Beaverdam Church, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths Do say from the Testimony given that Emma Hunter Died from the Effects of fire; That she died on Tesday the 17th inst having been burnt in a house, that was burnt down on the plantation of M.B. Pool on the night of the 16th inst. All Accidental... |
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Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say the said negro man Toby came to his death by accidental drowning |