Died in jail or a lockup
Samuel Benton
Sam Benton was one of several Black men held in Abbeville County, South Carolina, after a shooting near Lowndesville in December 1876. He was among prisoners moved toward Anderson and then Walhalla, and officials said the group was safe in the Walhalla jail. Reports that the prisoners had been taken from a constable and killed were not confirmed. A jury in his case found that he died from laudanum he had taken himself, which his brother had handed him.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of an overdose. A jury in his case found that he took laudanum himself after his brother handed it to him.
Reported by: jury in his case, as reported by the Columbia dispatch (court).