Strange and Unusual Deaths in the 19th Century

C.A. Asbrey

The 19th century was very much a time of experiment and innovation. Health and safety, however, came much later, and people were free to make all the mistakes later generations were to learn from. The records also show that our ancestors were subject to the same rampant stupidity, carelessness, and tragedy as we are today.

Some were just bizarre accidents like Henry Taylor, who slipped and fell at Kensal Green Cemetery while acting a a pallbearer. The coffin fell and crushed him to death in front of the party of mourners. Or there was the man who died when a mouse ran up inside his clothes in the factory he was working in. It darted into his open mouth and killed him by biting and scratching at this tongue and throat.

Others were caused by plain stupidity, like the circus clown in 1854 who swung around 13 year old William Snyder by the feet until he expired of causes which were never accurately reported. Then there was Hans Steinigner who grew a beard over five foot long and was killed when he tripped on it.

Sam Wardell was a lamplighter who attached a ten pound rock to his alarm clock. When the alarm clock went off, the rock would fall onto the floor. Why a lamplighter had to be up so early is a mystery to me as they lit the gas lamps in the evenings, however, one night he moved his furniture for a party. He failed to move the furniture back. The alarm clock went off, and the rock fell right on his head. It killed him as surely as  Clement Vallandigham (right), the Ohio politician and lawyer who shot himself in the head when demonstrating at a trial that the dead man could have used that gun to shoot himself. On the bright side his client was acquitted because he proved his point.

The Yorkshire Evening Post, November 3rd, 1893 carried a story about a young man who decided to ram a billiard ball into his mouth. He had done this before but this time it got jammed, blocked his airway, and killed him. His name is not reported, probably to save his family from embarrassment, but if any historians or genealogists have discovered it please feel free to let me know.

Women were not immune to such misadventure, Harriet Cross, aged 50 was reported by the Wolverhampton Deputy Coroner to have been killed by falling down the steps of a shop. She jammed her umbrella in her right eye and died from her injuries. Another young woman was found to have two pounds of her own hair in stomach in a post mortem examination.

In Dundee, Scotland, 22 year old Jane Goodwin died a truly Victorian death – lacing her corsets too tightly. The Dundee Courier, October 22nd, 1844 reported that she collapsed not long after taking her seat in the pew. She was carried to the sexton’s house and expired very quickly but the exact cause of death is  not described in medical terms.

The open flames used for lighting were death traps. Not only did countless people die in house fires, or caught flammable, flowing clothes in fires. In January 24, 1863, Sarah Smith was truly brave when she tried to help a fellow actress whose costume was caught in the stage lights. She also caught fire and died of her injuries.

Death by Paris Green was one of the stranger causes of death in the 19th century. Paris Green was one of the most fashionable colours of the 19th centuries. It was a vivid, bright colour, at a time when most people used duller vegetable dyes and it was everywhere. Not only did it colour clothes, fabrics, and wallpaper, it was used in pest control too as it was packed full of arsenic. In 1882, Louisa Cruikshank, was a wealthy young woman living in luxury, but depression was not understood at the time.

The family reported that she had a long history of despondency and frequently expressed “wanting to die.” She purchased the Paris Green at a hardware store, instead of buying arsenic at a pharmacy where more questions would have been asked as to the intended purpose.

The next day, Louisa was playing a waltz on the piano when she fell suddenly ill. Her last words were chillingly calm; “Mama I may as well tell you. I have taken Paris Green. I have done what I said I would do.”

In a truly 19th century death William Huskisson was the first man to be run over by a train and killed. The politician had approached the train on September 15th , 1830, to speak to the Duke of Wellington.

                                                                                        William Huskisson

Nearby , George Stephenson’s famous ‘Rocket’ approached on another track. Huskisson panicked and ended up falling. The ‘Rocket’ ran over him, mangling his legs. He died that day. Ironically, Huskisson had been one of the politicians who fought hard for the new railways, believing them to be the transport of the future.

Bridget Driscoll was the first person in the world killed by a car. She walked into the path of a car moving at 4 mph. giving demonstration rides in the grounds of Crystal Palace, London, UK on 17 August 1896, Many people believe that Mary Ward of Belfast was the first, but Bridget predates Mary’s death on 31 August 1869 after falling out of a steam-powered carriage. Bridget was the first person        killed, and the first pedestrian, while Mary was the first person killed riding in a car. Henry H. Bliss was the first person killed by a car in the USA on September 14, 1899.

The 19th century was full of firsts, not least of which included the appearance of serial killers as we now understand them today. From Jack the Ripper, Neil Cream, to H.H. Holmes, the appearance of the predatory serial killer hunting the public was something new. Of course, psychopaths have always been with us, but the move away from an agrarian society to an urban one allowed these people to hide in plain sight in a way which they couldn’t in villages where everyone knew one another.

Serial killers had previously existed in distinct spheres where they held unquestioned power over hapless victims in the way Elizabeth Bathory, Amelia Dyer, Blue Beards, Black Widows ,or so many Baby farmers did. The difference was that they did not happen on victims at random. That was something the  new to the 19th century which is still with us today.