Craven County NcArchives Court.....Slave, Dinah 1858 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sue Guptill sguptill@mindspring.com July 4, 2012, 1:31 pm Source: N C Archives Written: 1858 Inquests 1850-1859 (broken series) Dinah, a slave of Mrs. Ann E. LAWRENCE 8 November 1858 Alex DECKLE, Saml HYMAN, Alex TAYLOR, Benj CHADWICK Witness DECKLE: Was not present when girl was shot (was on the other side of the st.), but heard shot and went and found decd. lying flat on her face, not quite dead. Mr. CHADWICK & Mr. CUTHBERT were there, and were too frightened to tell who shot her until they came back from Dr. HUGHES. Witness HYMAN: Was sitting with CUTHBERT in the back room & Mr. CHADWICK came in and was fooling. HYMAN told him to not cause any disturbance, because he didn't feel well. Dinah came in after some medicine & HYMAN went out to wait on her. Boys came out one of them bringing the rifle to show his strength in being able to hold it out in one hand. HYMAN went back in the room and left the girl in the store looking at them. CUTHBERT, not knowing the rifle was loaded and by handling it, it accidentally went off and killed her. Witness TAYLOR: Was called to J.V. JORDANs Drug Store to see a negro who had been accidentally shot by a youth, Elijah CUTHBERT. Found her lying flat on her face in a pool of blood; her life was almost gone; she breathed but once or twice and died almost without a groan. Examination indicated the ball had severed the Internal Jugular Vein and Carotid Artery. Witness CHADWICK: Between 8 & 9 o'clock at night came into JORDAN's drug store and went into the back room and found HYMAN. Dinah came in and HYMAN went to wait on her. Was at counter when CUTHBERT came in with rifle and asked CHADWICK if he could hold it out with one hand. He & CUTHBERT did that, then CUTHBERT extended the muzzle as if he were aiming at a high point, then moved it down. CHADWICK then thought the gun might be loaded, and seeing his own danger, pushed the gun away and started to warn Elijah that it might be loaded when he shot it. CUTHBERT "asked if she was shot I replyed yes he then asked me if she was dead I replied yes he then exclaimed great god what shall I do and immediately ran for a physician." Cause of death: Accidental discharge of a rifle gun in the hands of Elijah CUTHBERT without any desire or intention on the part of CUTHBERT to kill her. Additional Comments: Craven County Coroner's records File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/craven/court/slave2324gwl.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 2.8 Kb