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.
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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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Francis Sanders | April 27, 1848 | at Sakin's[?] Mill, Fairfield County, SC |
we the Jurors do find and [?] that the said Francis Sanders; came to his death by drowning in the Broad River on the 26th[?] April 1848. |
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David McClellan | November 27, 1857 | at residence of David McClellan, Anderson County, SC |
do say that by the evidence of his wife & daughter that he was hunting a cow & found her mired was found dead near the cow lying across a pole from apperion[?] he had been trying to prize the cow out and we come to the conclusion that he came to his death by the fall |
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J. J. Gulladge | December 24, 1869 | at the house of J. J. Gulladge, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that J J Gulledge did come to his death by accident |
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John Harry | February 2, 1827 | at the House of John Harry, Laurens County, SC |
Do say upon their oathes that they are of opinion that the deceased came to his death by falling from his hors [sic] when he was driving his waggon in his own plantation |
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slave | slave | December 4, 1852 | at the plantation known as Stockton's, Kershaw County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that he came to his death by his appearance from privation and exposure |
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Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that Ernest Bean Came his death from accidental drowned |
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Ludley | February 8, 1860 | at Conwayboro in Horry District (near the River Landing), Horry County, SC |
upon their oaths do say tha the said Slave "Ludley" the property of D. W. Jordan came to his death by accidentally falling from a Flat the property of his master into the Reiver and was drowned |
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Priner Davis | near Simm Davis' Spring, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Priner Davis came to his death from apoplectic Fit-brought on by drinking bad whiskey and exposure near the Public Road in Fairfield Co SC, leading form Winnsboro to Kincades Bridge on or between the night of the 13th and the morning of the 15th of January 1883[.] |
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Mordicae Bloice | May 14, 1818 | at the flat [?] of Edylis[?], Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say . . . that the deceased Mordica Bloice came to his death by accidental drowning |
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John Stafford | December 16, 1831 | Spartanburg County, SC |
do say upon their oaths he came to his death by accidentally drowning in a state of intoxication |
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Alexander McKee | January 4, 1817 | in the woods near William Gardner's, Kershaw County, SC |
do say upon their oaths from the testimony given ... that from his insanity and exposition to the inclemency of the weather together with the infirmity of body was the cause of his death. |
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Berry McLauren | August 1, 1881 | at Jas P. Brock's Mill, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do Say That the Said Berry M Clarran came to his death by being accidently drowned in Brocks Mill. |
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London Byard | October 8, 1870 | at [?] Byers[?], Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that he came to his death by the hand of Providence by the falling of the earth on him in a ore[?] bank |
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David Fowler | October 2, 1891 | on the Pyles place, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say. That the said Daniel Fowler, Came to his death on the 1st day of Oct 1891 - in Laurens County, by being accidentally caught under a falling tree, mashing his head. |
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Unknown | at the House of Frank Stephanie, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say that the deceasd came to his death from Accidental Smothering in bed at its Fathers house[.] |
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Glasco Ferly | at the house of Glasco Ferly, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say: That the said colored Ferly came to his death by a gunshot wound accidentily inflicted upon himself |
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Infant of Solomon Huguy | Infant of Solomon Huguy | [no location given], Chesterfield County, SC |
[No official declaration] |
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Martha Boone | January 16, 1896 | at A. B. Merrimans place, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: that the said Martha Boone came to her death by accidental burning |
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Ryefield | boy | October 24, 1846 | near the Island Ford on Broad River, Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say That they suppose the body before them to be that of the younger Ryefield drowned at Smiths Ford some days back, and that the deceased came to his death by accidental drowning |
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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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A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville, Edgefield County, SC |
the said A.R. Steel came to her death do say That the deceased came to her death by an act of Providence [?] accidentally falling into a tub of water about six inches deep |
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A. L. Lattimore | July 2, 1883 | at Pacolet Cotton Factory, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the aforesaid A. L. Lattimore ... came to his death by misfortune or accident |
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Rachal McKinstry | December 2, 1873 | at the plantation of Thomas Sloan, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that she came to her death bye accidental burning |
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Margaret Coats | April 6, 1865 | at Williams Coatses, Laurens County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say that the said Margaret Coats came to her Death by the accidental dis charge of gun, in the hands of the deceased and in the hands of Lieutenant Young |
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William McKagen | May 5, 1860 | at Boykin's Mill, Kershaw County, SC | |||
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say. . .that he came to his death by going in to the Saluda River and got in Deep water an drowned |
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Everett Hook | July 18, 1891 | at the saw Mill of M J Hook, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say by accidently falling upon a cicular Saw While in Motion |
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Lizzie May Crosby | at Feasterville, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that in their opinions from the evidence brought before them the infant came to its death from causes unknown to the Jury |
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Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say, that the said Lizzie Darion came to her death by mischance, the burning of the house it was left in by what means it caught on fire is unknown |
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John Garrett | October 22, 1822 | at House of John Garrett, Union County, SC |
do say upon their oaths . . .Came to his death by being accid Draunded |
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Carey | slave | February 1, 1831 | at the house of John Williams, Kershaw County, SC |
do say upon their oaths We the Jurors . . .believe he got his Death accidentally by fire to the best of our knowledges and the evidence given by Mary Carraway and Nathan Waters before us proves nothing more |
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John A. Motz | October 18, 1886 | at the Brewer Gold Mine, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that John A. Motz came to his death by a falling rock from the east side of the quarry at the Brewer Gold mine where he at that time was turning a drill, 10 minutes till 2 O'clock P.M. the falling rock strick his head, and pushed it against another rock, which crushed his brains out. |
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John Dedman | March 15, 1806 | at Mr Jno Kings, Laurens County, SC |
Do say upon their Oaths that the s. Dedman, (arguably to the Testimony of Jas. Parker E.S. Roland and A. Bishop, persons present when he died) was killed by fall from a Horse at Home of Chas. Simmons in the District aforesaid |
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Rachel McBurney | October 21, 1833 | in the house of Major James Barkley, Fairfield County, SC |
do say upon their oaths, that according to the evidence adduced, they believe that on the morning of the 20th this instant, or some time in the night of the 19th, a small house adjoining the dwelling of the said Major James Barkley, occupied by said Rachel McBurney as a Bed Room, caught fire, how, not known, was consumed with the contents, and her, the said Rachel. |
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H. L.[?] Davis | Fairfield County, SC |
[No official declaration] |
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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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Willie Dunlap | September 6, 1904 | [in] Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Chesterfield County, SC |
We the undersigned jurious find from the evidence given that Willie Dunlap came to his death by poison administered by an unknown person to us. |
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negro child | negro child | February 17, 1850 | at the plantation of James Ellises, Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the Female child came to its death by mischance being accidentally smothered |
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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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Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say, that, he decd . . .the said Boy came to his death by & exposure to extreme hunger & Cold |
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Lizzy Rardon | September 28, 1879 | at Clansey Holloways plantation, Edgefield County, SC |
do say the said Lizzy Rardon came to her death by falling into the creek and strugling and from exaustion and being chilled |
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Hewlet Swangum | July 21, 1883 | at Pelzer, SC, Anderson County, SC |
do say that the deceased came to her death by drowning in Saluda River. |
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John D. Player | February 24, 1870 | at Camden, Camden, S.C., Kershaw County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the aforesaid John D. Player came to his death from [?] of the Glottis |
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John Lyons | July 1, 1882 | at Greenville, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that . . .came to his death from congestion of the Lungs |
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David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that it was by accidently drowning in the Graniteville Factory canel |
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Maggie Ratcliff | May 1, 1874 | at C. A. Mores, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the Said George Ratcliff Maggie Ratcliff & Luis Ratcliff came to there deaths by being accidently Burnt |
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Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Minnie Johnson came to her death by strangulation caused by an accidental fall into shaws creek |
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George Dillard | February 2, 1885 | at Taylormill, Laurens County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say that George Dillard in manner and form aforesaid came to his death by accidentally falling into the fire... |
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George Ratcliff | May 1, 1874 | at C. A. Mores, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the Said George Ratcliff Maggie Ratcliff & Luis Ratcliff came to there deaths by being accidently Burnt |
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infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Infant of Millie Hamond came to its death by a cause unknown |