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.
![](/sites/default/files/library/csid_figure_accidents_0.jpg)
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
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. |
||
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. |
||
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[.] |
|||
Bob | slave | December 26, 1845 | at the residence Mr. Parks, Kershaw County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that he came to his death by being drunk and exposed to the weather which was wet and very cold |
|
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 |
||
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oath do say-that he came to his death. . .by going in to the Mill Pond of B W Hatchers. . .and was by Misfortune of accidently drowned |
|
Richard Mims | August 1, 1899 | at the plantation of Mrs. H. Carter, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do Say: that Richard Mims came to his death by a pistol Shot in the hands of John McManus . . . accidental Shot of John McManus |
||
Washington | negro man | February 1, 1857 | at Pullok[?], Union County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that they believe Decsd Came to his death by misfortune though intoxication & exposure to rain & cold |
|
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. |
||
Mary Ann | July 2, 1855 | at the plantation of Henry Pitts on Walnut Creek, Laurens County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say that the said nego Girl, Mary Ann, her lying dead came to her death by drowning in Walnut Creeke on the night of the first of July |
||
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 |
||
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 |
||
William Bently | March 21, 1851 | at Wm Bently's, Union County, SC |
upon their oaths doo say that the said Wm Bently came to his death . . . by a wall plate that fell from the top of the house which he was Building which was by misfortune or accident |
||
George W. Moose | June 7, 1882 | at Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that said J. W. Moore ... came to his death from heart disease or from a fall consequent upon disease of the heart |
||
Abner Evans | June 14, 1867 | at P.A. Parker's place, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths Do say that the Deceased came to his Death By mischance that Abner Evin came to his deat By Falling in the Well and was Drowned |
||
Samuel Brock Sr. | March 23, 1884 | at Samuel Brocks Sr, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the Said Samuel Brock Sr came to his death by being burned to death in his own hous supposed accidently |
||
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. |
||
Judith Berry | December 17, 1811 | near Swift Creek ... [at] home of James Berry, Kershaw County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that the said Berry to came to her death by a violent burn which she received from her clothes taking fire at the fireplace in the house of James Berry . . . of which she instantly died. |
||
Curry | slave | March 17, 1856 | at Mrs Elizabeth Middletons Plantation, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Curry came to his death by accidental drowning |
|
James Graham | June 8, 1858 | at the place known as the public square in Logtown, Kershaw County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Jame Graham here lying dead came to his death from intemperance and exposure |
||
Benjamin Franklin Zimmerman | June 18, 1932 | near Patrick, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the deceased came to his death by accidental drowning in the waters of big Juniper creek-1/2 miles north East of the Town of Patrick, S. C. |
||
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 |
|
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... |
||
George Lindsay | May 7, 1945 | at Chesterfield, South Carolina, Chesterfield County, SC |
[No official declaration] |
||
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 |
|
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 |
||
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 |
||
Maty | slave | December 10, 1833 | at the dwelling house of Jesse Hammet, Spartanburg County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that they are of the opinion that the said slave came to her death by the visitation of God in afflicting her with fits or spasms and being neglected by those who had her in their care |
|
M. Harrison | son | December 16, 1876 | at John Harrison's residence, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that he came to his death . . .by accident gun shot wound at his own hands |
|
William Johnson Senior | December 30, 1869 | at the first Swamp on the Road leading from the public Road to Hughes Landing on Little Pee Dee River, Horry County, SC |
upon their oaths do Say that we Suppose he came to his death by mischance |
||
Henry Goodman | May 4, 1851 | at or near to William H Adams on little horse Creek, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their Oaths do say that the aforesaid Henry Goodman in manner and form aforesaid came to his death by drowning in said little horse Creek |
||
Sarah Lucas | October 30, 1890 | at Mr. M L Holson, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that She came to her death by being Burned to death by fire from accident |
||
John Findley | March 22, 1819 | at [??] ferrey, Union County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that . . .he came to his Death by atemping to Cross the River at horvels[?] ferry alone when in Liquer and by Mischance was Drowned |
||
Willie Senteel | August 9, 1885 | at Clifton, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Willie Senteel came to his death by accidental drowning at Clifton |
||
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... |
||
Rock Pearson | January 15, 1878 | at G.B. Pearson's, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say the deceased came to his death by mischance. That Rock Pearson in manner and form aforesaid, caem to his death by misfortune or accident |
||
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 |
|
Pinder | slave | May 5, 1860 | at Boykin's Mill, Kershaw County, SC | ||
negro boy child | negro boy child | December 25, 1845 | at Wm H. askews, Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that . . .it was brot to its death by mischance or neglect of its mother by Smothering it in her Sleap |
|
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 |
|
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. |
||
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. |
|||
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. |
||
Sherman Bowden | May 7, 1878 | at Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that ... the said Sherman Bowden while bathing in the Lawson's Fork Creek ... accidentally fell into water over his head and was drowned |
||
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. |
||
James McCravy | January 4, 1851 | at the house of Amos Holmes, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said James McCravy being intoxicated and out in the snow frozed [sic] to death |
||
Samuel F. Evans Sr. | January 23, 1878 | at Chesterfield C. H., Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say That the Said Samuel F. Evans Sr. came to his death by accidental burning |
||
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 |
||
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. |
||
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say Robt Reynolds came to his death from burnes received by Explosion from Engine owned by J. H. Bussy |