Taylor Combs
Taylor Combs, a 37-year-old Black man, was a patient at the Rochester State Hospital for the Insane in Minnesota, where he was described as a polite patient. Hospital attendants said that on April 1, 1889, he fell from a scaffold while cleaning a ceiling and was found dead shortly after asking for water. A workman later said two attendants beat Combs and knelt on his chest. After his body was exhumed, his injuries were found to be far more severe than first reported, with a broken breastbone and internal bleeding. Two attendants were later found guilty of manslaughter, and his body was returned to his family in St. Paul.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by staff (disputed). Hospital attendants and authorities said he fell from a scaffold while cleaning a ceiling, and the county coroner's account gave a broken breastbone and internal bleeding; a workman said two attendants beat him and knelt on his chest, and after exhumation his injuries were found far more severe than first reported.
Reported by: hospital attendants and hospital authorities; county coroner; a workman; exhumation findings.