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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infant slave | infant slave | September 28, 1853 | at the house of James R. Jeter, Union County, SC |
came to its death by misfortune or accident |
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Unknown Unknown | February 16, 1923 | at Cheraw, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say, that he came to his death from cold & exposure |
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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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Daniel | October 8, 1834 | at Maj. John Blacks, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths that from evidence that the said Negro came to his Death by Mischance by plunging into the River at or near the head of Maj. John Black's Millhouse in said District through fear dogs which were threatened by calling & encouraging of a Negro man, Doc, the property of Reginald Duncan by order of John Odell, supposing him to be a runaway. |
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Sloan | freedman | November 19, 1866 | At Williamston, Anderson County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that [Sloan] came to his death by being burnt to death by the accidental burning of the Gin house of Major A. M. Hamilton. . .as the jury could ascertain in cause of the fire the presumption being that It was through matches, in the possession of the said Sloan |
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Fanny | July 22, 1856 | at "Gressetts Landing or Store Landing" on the Waccamaw River, Horry County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say that the said slave Fanny the porperty . . . of the said R. G. W. Grissett did on Sunday the 20.th Inst came to her death by Misfortune or accidental drowning |
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Dolly Young | child | March 12, 1879 | at Greenville, Greenville County, SC |
upont their oaths do say that the said Dolly Young . . . came to her death by accident or smuthering or by misclued[?] |
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George Keerison | November 22, 1856 | at Alston Depot, G & C.[?] R. Road, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say,- that according to the testimony given, the said George Keerison was crossing Broad River on the G & 6 R.R. Bridge at Alston in a state of intoxication on the 4th instant, and accidentally fell off said Bridge, which was the cause of his death |
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Patrick Williams | August 23, 1842 | at the house of patrick Williams decsd, Union County, SC |
do say that . . .Patrick Willaims came to his death by the fall of a certain oak tree which we found lying upon his Mangled body |
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Joseph A. McJunkin | March 15, 1858 | at Wm Hawkins House, Union County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that they believe the Decd came to his death from what testimony they can get from a [?] Fits[?] & in that condition had fallen in to the river where he Decsd was Fishing & drowned |
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John Weston | December 31, 1890 | on the plantaion of Robt Bailey, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said John Weston came to his death "From the Effects of a gun shot wound accidentally discharged in his own hands, on the 29th day of Decr inst." |
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Collen Baskins | August 4, 1885 | at Josh Baskins, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: Tat the Said Collen Baskins came to his death by being acly Drowned |
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Samuel Williams | at Major Wilkes' plantation, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say, that the said Samuel Williams came to his death by the falling timbers from the house, caused by a severe storm on the night of the 19th of February 1884. |
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William Applewhite | January 22, 1838 | at Camden, Kershaw County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Wm. Applewhite came to his death by falling in the fire |
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Lesthia Ridlehouse[Ridlehover?] | January 5, 1892 | at the Residence of Mrs Edny Mary, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say by being accidenttly burned to death |
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Infant of George and Ann Crawford | Infant of George and Ann Crawford | May 8, 1906 | At G A S[??]cers, Chesterfield County, SC |
Upon their oaths, do say: By strangulation the cause of which is unknown to Jury |
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Charles Flowers | June 13, 1906 | [no location given], Chesterfield County, SC |
I find that the deceased came to his death by accidental drowning |
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Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say. . .from drinking an [?] quantity of water when heated. . .came to his death by misfortune |
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Pauline Paulding[?] | at Captain John Thomas' Place, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say, that Pauline Pauling died of suffocation[?] |
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Miles Robuck | December 16, 1856 | at the house of S.S. Roebuck, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the deceased came to his death by having his head crushed between the head block and one of the arms of the Cog wheel of a Cotton Gin, that the said Miles Roebuck came to his death in manner and form aforesaid, by misfortune or accident. |
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John | August 16, 1859 | at Edw Garreth, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do Say that the Boy John aforesaid came to his death by going in to the water and by accident got into deep water and not being able to swim was drowned. |
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Smith | June 9, 1876 | near R. H. Anderson's Tanyard, Anderson County, SC |
do say that . . .the said Smith was accidentally drowned in a race dith; that is to say the said Smith in manner and form aforesaid, came to his death by misfortune or accident. |
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Samuel Culbertson | July 1, 1838 | at the house of Samuel Colbertson, Union County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that the said Samuel Colbertson . . .died by the visitation of god by accidently getting drounded in Broad River |
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Gus Sexton | August 11, 1894 | at Tildy Austin's, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Gus Sexton came to his death by a gun shot wound inflicted by his own hand. |
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infant | November 29, 1860 | Spartanburg County, SC | |||
John Davis | September 6, 1859 | at Jas. H. Parks, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say - That he came to his death by misfortune and accident by a plate falling struck him on the head about 1 o cl'k on the 5th Inst. Which caused his death in about six hours. |
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Ransom Hinton | March 29, 1872 | at Purvis' Bridge, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That Ransom Hinton caem to his death by being accidently drowned near Purvis' Bridge, across Thompson's Creek on or about 26th day of March AD 1872 |
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William Godfrey | October 19, 1873 | near Leaterwood's Mills, Spartanburg County, SC |
open [sic] their oaths do say that [deceased] did fall into a gully and being unable to get out did then and there die |
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D. Stepp | June 9, 1883 | at Greenville, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that . . .the said D. W. Stepp came to his death by being drowned accidentally in the Mill Pond at Hutchinson's Tan Yard |
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Lindy Jones | March 15, 1882 | at George Holingsworth House, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oath do say that Lindy Jones Came to her death from accidental Burning |
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Cudjo Johnson | November 29, 1875 | at the Poor House, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: that the deceased came to his death by a gun shot wound in at the hands of Thomas N. Smart, and that the said Thomas N. Smart fired [in the dark] without intending to shoot deceased or any human being, but believed it was a dog or some other brute animal |
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Willie Parker | December 21, 1892 | at S. Parkers, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: that Willie Parker came to his death by being struck on his head by a falling Tree Accidinetly |
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Ryal | Negro Slave | July 28, 1851 | at Mr Thos McKies Batteau landing on Big Stephen's Creek, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that they boy Ryal went in the creek of his own accord and [?] to swim drowned |
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Mary Tottey | January 3, 1814 | Union County, SC |
do upon their oaths say that the said Mary Came to her Death By the act of God By Droning |
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Thomas Davis | March 30, 1884 | at John Davis, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Thomas Davis came to his death by misfortune or accident |
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Samuel McCulley | December 29, 1839 | in Broadway Creek, Anderson County, SC |
do say that sd, Samuel McCulley on the 28th day of December 1839 was found dead in Broadway Creek . . . and had no marks of violence on him and died of the [?] of God partly by intemperance partly by cold and partly by drowning |
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Dave | slave | February 6, 1830 | at James Brockman's Mill, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that they think that he [died] with [?] in James Brockman's cotton gin |
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Hannah White | December 25, 1870 | near William Pitts' dwelling house, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say, That Hannah White in manner and form aforesaid came to her death, by being accidently burnt |
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John Shockley | July 27, 1865 | at John Shockley's, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said disseast came to his death by misfortune or accident |
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Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there Oaths do say that he came to his death by the accidental discharge of a Gun. . .that Elleck free boy in manner and form aforesaid came to his death by accident |
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Herman Peters | November 2, 1836 | on the Camden Road near the house of Hugh Y.[?] Rosborough, Fairfield County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that they believe according to all evidence adduced to them, the said Herman Peters came to his death from intoxication and inclemency of the weather, some time of the morning of the 2nd instant, on the Camden Road four miles from Winnsborough |
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Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?], Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that. . .the said Sallie Holmes aforesaid came to her death from accidental burning |
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David Garison | February 23, 1823 | [?] the house of David Garison, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that they suppose the said David Garison get chilled to death from the inclemency of the weather and exposure. |
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Henry | male infant slave | November 23, 1860 | at Berry Shells House, Union County, SC |
uppon their oaths do say that the Decest Came to his death by accidental overlaying of his Mother & smothering to death |
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Sarah Farmer | July 14, 1878 | at Williams Goodwin Place, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say That the Said Sarah Farmer came to her death from a pistol shot taken affect just above the right Eye and that the pistol was supposed to be in the hands of the deceased and that it was accidental |
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Milly Thomas | October 8, 1878 | at Winnsboro, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: that the aforesaid Milly Thomas came to her death from being crushed under the shafting in W.B. Creights gin room on the afternoon of the 7th October 1878 at Winnsboro. |
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Elizabeth Tillatson | January 17, 1878 | at Frances Turner's, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said P. Elizabeth Tillatson came to her death at the house of Frances Turner ... from fire, occurring in the house where she lived |
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Bob | slave | February 18, 1823 | near Captain James W. Lang's Mills, Kershaw County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that the said Bob a Negro man slave came to his death by being exposed & was frozen to death on the night of the sixteenth Instant which exposure was probably produced by intoxication in the woods near Captain Lang's Mills |
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William LeGrand | May 5, 1860 | at Boykin's Mill, Kershaw County, SC | |||
Sam Malloy | May 30, 1899 | at Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Chesterfield County, SC |
From the evidence I got from the party's there the deceased was accidentaly drowned |