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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female child | female child | May 19, 1879 | at Greenville, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the unknown female child . . . came to her death. . . by mischance or accident or from causes to this jury unknown |
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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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Ashford D. Clary | March 17, 1822 | near David Graham's, Laurens County, SC |
do say upon their oaths, that he being Intoxicated on Sunday the tenth day of this Instant (March) and had attempted to cross the branch aforesaid, and crossing had fallen into the same and was Drowned in the water of said Branch |
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Minnie Cason | June 9, 1883 | at Williamston, Anderson County, SC |
do say that the death of said Minnie was caused by falling into a well from 25 to 30 feet deep? |
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Jethro | July 27, 1857 | at the residence of Cornelius B. Sarvis, Horry County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said boy Jethro came to his death by accidental drowning |
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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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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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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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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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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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slave | slave | October 30, 1840 | at Wiley Kelly's, Kershaw County, SC |
do say on their oaths that the slave infant came to her death by Accident |
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Calhoun Templeton | February 3, 1892 | at Laurens CH, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Calhoun Templeton came to his death on the 3rd day of Feb. A.D. 1892 at Laurens CH. By Accident, being burnt in a burning house on the plantation of JD Watts. |
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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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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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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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Basil Vick | March 12, 1941 | at Pageland, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Basil Vick received in Chesterfield County a mortal wound by Suffocation by smoke from fire in adjoining cell, occupied by Joe Church. |
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Betsey Smith | January 19, 1807 | at the Dweling hous of Miles[?] [?], Union County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that the Said Betsey Smith Came to her Death [??] Close[?] catching[?] fire and and[?] and[?] thereby [?] her to Death |
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William McAbee | April 8, 1885 | Spartanburg County, SC | |||
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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Henry Davis | October 30, 1857 | at Anderson Courthouse, Anderson County, SC |
are of the opinion that Henry Davis came to his death by excessive drink, cold and a fall which rendered him unable to take care of himself. |
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Edmond Long | October 2, 1892 | at Cheraw, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the sad Edmond Long came to his death by falling from the trestle of the Palmetto Rail Road near Pee Dee River. . . That the said Edmond Long. . . came to his death by 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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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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Tom | slave | May 5, 1805 | at plantation of John Chesnut, Esquire, Kershaw County, SC |
do say upon their oaths. . . that the said negro in escaping from him [the overseer] attempted to swim the river, and was drowned |
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Alexander | January 2, 1862 | at Dr. Austins, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Alexander came to his death Jany 1st by accident having been caught in the running gear of the gin. |
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Andrew Dawkins | June 25, 1895 | at Laurens CH, Laurens County, SC |
From testimony produced, I find he died from a fracture of the skull received from a fall while engaged in unloading a Lumber car, at the Factory at Laurens County. I also find that there was no one to blame for same. |
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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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Mariah Teel | December 30, 1870 | at the Poor House, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say, That the deceased, Maria Teel came to her death, by being accidently burnt |
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William Giles | Capt | May 13, 1811 | at his own Dweling, Union County, SC |
do Say on their Oaths that . . .William Giles Came to his Death by fall of a Limb from a tree which appears to have Broake his skull and one of his arms |
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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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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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unknown negro | unknown negro | April 24, 1855 | at Savannah Bluff, Horry County, SC |
upon their oaths do say tha the Said engro (to them unknown) came to his Death by Drowning |
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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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William McDonald | December 25, 1803 | in the District aforesaid, Laurens County, SC |
Say upon there Oaths that the aforesaid Wm McDonal in Manor & form aforesaid was hurt & came to his Death By Misfortune... |
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Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say ... that the said Edinborough Ryan Came to his death from cause unknown |
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George Lindsay | May 7, 1945 | at Chesterfield, South Carolina, Chesterfield County, SC |
[No official declaration] |
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female Infant Slave | female Infant Slave | May 30, 1847 | at the house of Mrs Sarow Brandons, Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say . . .the child dyed by the visitation of god or [?] have been axcidently Smothered by its mother |
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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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West Myers | boy | August 8, 1866 | on Washington [?], Greenville County, SC |
upon their aoths do say that sd West Myers was accidentally drowned by Cicero Caveton[?] |
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Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Edgefield County, SC |
the said Henry Jones came to his death by an Apoplectick fit |
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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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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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Henrietta Brown | January 9, 1878 | at Thomas Blair's plantation, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say the deceased came to her death by her clothes taking fie, and was burned to death. |
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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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George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville, Edgefield County, SC |
by there oaths do say that the said George Washington Crowder came to his death became entangled in the bands[?] carried the factory at Grannetville in the state aforesaid and was drawn up by a board of the of the shaff[?]. . . by Misfortan or accident |
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Lora | slave | January 6, 1852 | at Gerrymiah Gregory's, Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that . . .the child Lora she was accidently smothered by its mother |
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Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Henry came to his death by injuries received in falling in & against the bank of a branch or deep gully while running from a patroll |
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Solomon | negro man | June 24, 1844 | near the Mill of George A. McKee on Stevens Creek, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that the said negro came to his death by drowning |
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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. |
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William McKagen | May 5, 1860 | at Boykin's Mill, Kershaw County, SC |