The State vs. the Dead Body of John

Date: 
November 28, 1850

Deceased

John
Sex: 
Male
Race: 
Black
Slave Status: 
Enslaved
Owner: 
Yancy Hellams
COD Category: 
Suicide
COD: 
Hanging
COD Inquest Finding: 

upon their oaths Do Say they have examined the Dead Body of the above Decd and find that he came to his death by hanging him self by the neck with a cotton cord about ren foot long to a ash tree about eight foot high we find no mark of violence about his body nor Person... Some Slight marks of a switch or cowskin upon his Shoulders...

Coroner

Coroner: 
Wm. Power
Coroner Title: 
Magistrate

Location

Inquest Location: 
at Yancy Hellams
County: 
Laurens County, SC

Source

South Carolina Department of Archives & History
Columbia, SC
Inquest Images: 
Laurens_Cor_D5852_0499.jpg
Laurens_Cor_D5852_0500.jpg
Laurens_Cor_D5852_0501.jpg
Laurens_Cor_D5852_0502.jpg
Laurens_Cor_D5852_0503.jpg
Laurens_Cor_D5852_0504.jpg
Transcription: 

Barnet Hellams sworn saith that on the morning of the 22nd of Nov about eight OC AM he went Down in the plantation a quarter of a mile from the house when in about 20 steps of the ash tree where the Boy John was saw that he was hanging that he had a rope round his neck turned back to the house and met his father Yancy Hellams going down that way.

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