The State vs. the Dead Body of Sam

Date: 
October 5, 1854

Deceased

Description: 
slave
Sex: 
Male
Race: 
Black
Slave Status: 
Enslaved
COD Category: 
Suicide
COD: 
COD Inquest Finding: 

do say that the deceased boy Sam the slave of J. W. Harrison came to his death. . .by voluntarily drowning himself in a pit or well of water near the track of the Blue Ridge Rail Road?in and through a diseased state or aberration of mind.

Coroner

Coroner: 
Coroner Title: 
magistrate acting as coroner

Location

Inquest Location: 
at the plantation of James W. Harrison

Source

South Carolina Department of Archives & History
Columbia, SC
Inquest Images: 
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