The State vs. the Dead Body of negro woman slave

The brain upon examination was found in such a state of [?] as to be almost in a fluid condition.

Date: 
July 12, 1851

Deceased

negro woman slave
Description: 
negro woman slave
Sex: 
Female
Race: 
Black
Slave Status: 
Enslaved
Owner: 
William Pattison
COD Category: 
Homicide
COD: 
Other
COD Inquest Finding: 

upon their oaths do say. . . are inclined to the belief that there might have been violence inflicted which might have caused death upon the head or throat. Those parts being in so [?] a state of decomposition that it was impossible to determine whether there had been injuries inflicted on those parts or not.

Coroner

Coroner: 
Isiah Cox
Coroner Title: 
magistrate acting as coroner

Location

Inquest Location: 
at Jackson Pattison's
County: 
Greenville County, SC

Source

South Carolina Department of Archives & History
Columbia, SC

Perpetrator

Perpetrator: 
Westly Pattison
Perpetrator Description: 
Brother of owner
Inquest Images: 
L23094_0005_01.jpg
L23094_0005_02.jpg
L23094_0005_03.jpg
L23094_0005_04.jpg
L23094_0005_05.jpg
L23094_0005_06.jpg
L23094_0005_07.jpg
L23094_0005_08.jpg
L23094_0005_09.jpg
L23094_0005_10.jpg
L23094_0005_11.jpg
Transcription: 

Mrs. Pickel[?] states Westly Patterson told her that he had whipped the negro with a handful of sprouts[?] and that he give her two hundred lashes she also states that she saw the negro after she was whipped and she complained of being [?]

Get in touch

  • Department of History
    220 LeConte Hall, Baldwin Street
    University of Georgia
    Athens, GA 30602-1602
  • 706-542-2053
  • admin@ehistory.org

eHistory was founded at the University of Georgia in 2011 by historians Claudio Saunt and Stephen Berry

Learn More about eHistory

Supporters

+ American Council of Learned Societies
+ DigiLab, Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, University of Georgia