Clarendon County Magistrate's Office, South Carolina
End of Watch: Saturday, September 2, 1899
Age: 46
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Assault
Date of Incident: August 26, 1899
Weapon Used: Blunt object
Suspect Info: Not available
Constable Samuel Tobias succumbed to injuries sustained seven days earlier when he encountered two horse thieves he had been searching for.
Constable Tobias and three other men had been posted at a railroad causeway in an attempt to intercept two notorious horse thieves who had just escaped from the state prison farm. At daybreak, the officers split up and Constable Tobias started walking across the causeway when he encountered the two. Before he was able to react the men shot him in the head. Constable Tobias fell and dropped his gun in the swampy water below.
The men then left him for dead. Despite being critically injured, Constable Tobias was able to crawl approximately one mile to the switch shack on the railroad. When he did not arrive at home, his family went looking for him and found him there. He died as a result of his head injuries five days later.
The following day a posse went after the killers; although it unknown what happened to the men they were never seen again.