Robert Smith
Robert Smith was held in the custody of U.S. Marshals and was being taken by train from Martinsburg to Wheeling, West Virginia, on September 26, 1918. According to a 2020 Belt Magazine article citing a Martinsburg newspaper of the time, he was already too weak to walk and was ill with influenza when he died somewhere along the route. The article's author says he was probably the first person in West Virginia to die in the pandemic, and argues that the marshals' per-trip fees and the crowded jail left him in danger. He was buried in a pauper's grave at Peninsula Cemetery in Wheeling, and the article says his age is uncertain.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness. The article's author, citing a Martinsburg newspaper of 1918, says he died of Spanish influenza while being transported by U.S. Marshals.
Reported by: the article's author, citing a Martinsburg newspaper of the time (reporters).