The State vs. the Dead Body of Clem

Date: 
October 3, 1858

Deceased

Clem
Description: 
slave, boy
Sex: 
Male
Race: 
Black
Child: 
child
Slave Status: 
Enslaved
Owner: 
Tabitha Abney
COD Category: 
Accident
COD: 
Firearm
COD Inquest Finding: 

upon their oaths do say that the aforesaid Lem[?] came to his death by the accident firing of a gun in his own hands

Coroner

Coroner: 
James Perry
Coroner Title: 
magistrate acting as coroner

Location

Inquest Location: 
at Tabitha Abney's
County: 
Edgefield County, SC

Source

South Carolina Department of Archives & History
Columbia, SC
Inquest Images: 
L19077_0001_268.jpg
L19077_0001_269.jpg
Transcription: 

he wanted Caps and she gave them to him to shoot hogs if they were in the field

shot in the mouth with a Rifle gun

she saw Lem have[?] the gun in his hands and she told him to put it up and as she turned her back she heard the gun fire and saw him fall on his back dead

saw Lem have the gun in his hands and was blowing in it, an as he turned off from the door he heard the gun and Lem fall.

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