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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Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Willis Cumings came to his death by a gun shot Wound in the hands of John Cumings by accident |
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infant | June 8, 1828 | house of Jessee Husk, Kershaw County, SC |
do say upon their oaths. . . that after carefully examining the dead body of the s'd male child of the s'd Martha Gibson ... are all agreed that the s'd child died by the visitation of God but by the blood being [?]led in large spots to be seen through the skin all on his left side from his face to his foot they thought it was probable s'd child might have eat some poisonous herbs or berries of the woods as s'd Husk had settled in the woods |
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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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Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H., Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Joseph Shaw bathing in the Mill pond of Col H. H. Pickens. . .came to his death by accidental drowing |
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Infant child of Amanda Williams | at the residence of Alex Cockerell, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say having viewed the dead body of Amanda Williams infant and heard the evidence of witnesses and this our verdict that it came to its death form congestion of the lungs. |
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James Owens | March 13, 1885 | at James Owens's house, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths aforesaid do say that ... James Owens came to his death by misfortunte or accident |
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Sarah Ratcliff | January 3, 1873 | at Mr. Isaac Smith's, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the deceased came to her death by accedental burning on the plantation of Mr Isaac Smith on Tusday the 31t day of December 1872 |
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Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say, that the said Mary Harris, aforesaid, came to her death. . .by accidental scalding with hot Water |
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Elizabeth McKagen | May 5, 1860 | at Boykin's Mill, Kershaw County, SC | |||
Thomas Bramblet | May 28, 1889 | at Laurens Court House, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Thomas Bramblet came to his death by being accidentally struck by the Hose Reel, near the Greenville Laurens RR trestle on the evening of the 27 of May 1889. |
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Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Lila Washington came to her death by accident in catching on fire and Burning to death |
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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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Martha Hubbard | January 1, 1912 | at McBee, Chesterfield County, SC |
[No official declaration] |
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Mary | female Slave | January 13, 1853 | at Isaac Bowles[?], Edgefield County, SC |
The jury find that the decased Mary came to her death by falling into the Said Mountain Creek and drowned |
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Eugenia Richardson | on James McGill's plantation, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that she was accidently over layed by her mother and smothered to death, and came to her death by misfortune or accident. |
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Lester Caute Woodward | March 15, 1904 | at the residence of A. L. Steen, Chesterfield County, SC |
[No official declaration] |
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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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Jesse | May 15, 1850 | at Lyles Ford on the Broad River, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the negro man came to his dead by drowing or accident to the Jurors unknown |
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Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do Say that the Child Came to its death from a wound inflicted by fire accidentily |
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James C. Wise | May 13, 1847 | at Camden, Kershaw County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that he came to his death by accidental drowning |
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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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infant child | infant child | September 15, 1861 | at the residence of Mrs Margret Willis, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that the said infant child of Elizabeth Hallman was. . .born dead being prematurely Delivered its Delivery being caused by and injury received by the mother in a fall |
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Thomas Yongue | near Strother, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say: That the said Tomas Yongue came to his death from accidental burning |
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John Pope | August 29, 1828 | at the house of James Watson, Laurens County, SC |
do say upon there oathes (after hearing all the testimony and Examining the body of the afore Said John Pope) all are of opinion that the afore said John Pope were intoxicated by spirituous liquors and received a fall from his horse which occasioned his death... |
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Titus | July 19, 1857 | at the Thoroughfair landing, Horry County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say, that the said negro slave Titus came to his death by accidental drowning |
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Unknown infant | December 28, 1880 | at Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the Said Infant child came to his death by being accidently smothered |
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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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Georgianna Watts | October 11, 1891 | at R.O. Hairstons, Laurens County, SC |
by their oaths do say, that she came to her death, By being burnt in the house, it being burnt on her By Accident. |
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Infant of Samuel Love | Infant of Samuel Love | November 16, 1887 | at Chesterfield C. H., Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: that the said infants came to their deaths by being accidentally burned on the 15th day of November A.D. 1887 |
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Unknown | March 26, 1877 | at James McGill's, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said child came to its death by being accidently overlain by its Mother, and was smothered to death. |
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Isaac Oliphant | November 9, 1882 | at Ritch Thomson, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say the said Isaac Oliphant Came to his death by a Gun Shot Wound unfortunately or accidentally in his own hands |
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Angus McQueen | January 17, 1816 | at home of Kelly McDermit, Kershaw County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that the deceased came to his Death by the combined effects of Cold, Intoxication, and the falls he had therefrom. |
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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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Crafford Brantley | November 4, 1927 | at House in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon there oathes do Say that Crafford Brantley came to His Death By accidental gun shot wound on Nov 4th at about 11 am 1927 |
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Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say-that Emanuel was Killed by the fall of a tree |
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Jack Thomas | at Mickles Ferry, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say, that the said, Jack Thomas, came to his death by accidental drownding |
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Wade Harper | September 3, 1924 | at Cheraw, Chesterfield County, SC |
Wade Harper, about 17 years old, son of J. F. Harper, of Cheraw S.C. came to his death at Anderson's Mill, Cheraw, by mischance, without blame on the part of another person |
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H. C. Rudisail | December 31, 1881 | at Campobello, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say taht the said H. C. Rudisail deceased came to his death by apoplexy caused from over work by violent exertion of the body |
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Frank Young | in Fairfield County, South Carolina, Fairfield County, SC |
We find that the deceased Frank Young came to his death by accidental drowning |
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Sallie Bell Suber | at Lyles Ford, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Ida Suber and Sallie Belle Suber came to their deaths by accidently burning to death from[?] carelessness of their mother. |
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Jane Kelly | May 5, 1860 | at Boykin's Mill, Kershaw County, SC | |||
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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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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George Lindsay | May 7, 1945 | at Chesterfield, South Carolina, Chesterfield County, SC |
[No official declaration] |
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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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Frank Young | infant | January 11, 1877 | at Greenville, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the child came to its by accidentaly being overlaid by its mother. |
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Chaney | female slave | June 15, 1841 | at Mrs. Catherin Bateses, Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say. . .a certain negro boy the property of the Sd Mrs Bates was handling a shot gun being loaded without his knowledge which went off by accident and blew the contents into the forehead of the said Chaney |
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Benjamin Grady | August 28, 1886 | at Brocks Mill, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the Said Benjamin Grady came to his death by being accidently Drowned in Brocks Mill Pond on 27th day of August 1886 |
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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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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 |