Clement Vallandigham, The Man Who Accidentally Killed Himself While Demonstrating How Another Man Might Have Accidentally Killed Himself
Library of CongressClement Vallandigham was a former congressman and an attorney.
In June 1871, former congressman Clement Vallandigham was working as an attorney in the town of Lebanon, Ohio. His client, Thomas McGehan, was accused of killing a man named Tom Myers during a saloon brawl, and it was Vallandigham’s job to prove that McGehan was not at fault for Myers’ death.
Vallandigham argued that McGehan had not actually shot Myers, but rather that Myers had accidentally shot himself while drawing his own pistol. To prove this theory, Vallandigham conducted some ballistics tests with his companions. As they were headed back to their hotel afterwards, according to an 1871 report from the Sydney Empire, one of the men reminded Vallandigham to discharge the three remaining shots in his pistol.
“What for?” Vallandigham asked.
“To prevent any accident,” his companion warned. “You might shoot yourself.”
Vallandigham ignored his friend’s warning, claiming that he had “carried and practised too long with pistols to be afraid to have a loaded one in [his] pocket.”
The men made it back to their hotel, and Vallandigham set his loaded pistol on a table — directly next to the unloaded pistol that had belonged to Myers.
Then, to demonstrate how Myers might have accidentally shot himself while drawing his weapon, Vallandigham grabbed one of the two pistols on the table, placed it in his pocket, drew it back out, and pointed it at his abdomen.
“There,” he said, “that’s the way Myers held it.”
Unfortunately, Vallandigham had grabbed the wrong pistol. His finger fell on the gun’s trigger, there was a flash, and then he cried out, “My God, I’ve shot myself!”
For the next few hours, a string of people attempted to help Vallandigham, but even with doctors paying him visits, hope was lost. Nobody could find the bullet inside him, and in the end, he died of an unintentionally self-inflicted wound.
While unfortunate, Vallandigham’s death did ultimately serve to prove his client’s innocence. McGehan was found not guilty of killing Myers.
