Black male, born about 1872 in Texas. Died 30 December 1902 of heart disease in Pensacola, FL at the age of about 30. He was single at the time of his death, his occupation listed as laborer. He had been in the area about 3 years. He was buried at the Escambia County Poor Farm.
An article in the Pensacola News (afternoon) on 31 December 1902, sheds more light on his death: “The death of Charles Alexander, colored, shortly before 8 o’clock last night was attended with such suspicious circumstances that Coroner Wolfe had a jury empaneled and an investigation will be made. …
“Alexander, it was stated, had been staying at the home of Mattie Coleman, 421 E. Government St., and had been in this city periodically for three years. Recently he had been ill and his ailment had greatly weakened him. He had always roomed at the Coleman woman’s home and was widely known about town. …
“Last night Alexander walked out on the rear porch and suddenly fell to the ground. There could be found none who had seen him at the immediate time of his fall, but the noise made by his falling attracted the attention of parties in the house, and when they reached Alexander he was motionless. He was picked up and carried into the house and a further examination developed the fact that his neck had been broken. He was dead in a few moment.
“People living at the place were seen this morning and none were inclined to gie out a gread deal of information regarding the man’s death. They were all unanimous in the claim that there had been no trouble whatever, adn the Alexander’s death, if not from heart disease, was certainly an accident.
“Mattie Coleman, the proprietress of the house, was not home at the time of the accident. She had been in Montgomery for a week or more and returned only this morning. The woman conducts a boarding house and furnishes meals to men working on the docks. These are carried there daily and sold, and rooms are rented in addition to that line. On this account there were a number of men about the place as boarders and this caused a suspicion to arise in the mind of Judge Wolfe that the death was due to criminal negligence. …
“The conclusion was that the negro’s death had been caused from heart disease. The negro’s neck was broken when he fell from the porch.
“After the jury had rendered a verdict the body was buried at the county’s expense.”
SOURCES:
Pensacola births and deaths, 1891-1910, Escambia County (Florida) Health Department. Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1973.
The Pensacola News, 31 December 1902 (afternoon), p. 1