{"id":6740,"date":"2022-11-06T07:24:09","date_gmt":"2022-11-06T12:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/?p=6740"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:14:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:14:38","slug":"johnnie-gaskill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/johnnie-gaskill\/","title":{"rendered":"Death of New Bern Assistant Fire Chief Johnnie Gaskill, 1904"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How exactly did New Bern Assistant Fire Chief John &#8220;Johnnie&#8221; J. Gaskill die in the line of duty on November 6, 1904? His death has been long-attributed to injuries resulting from a fire horse kicking him in the head. In recent years, NBFD historian Daniel Bartholf dug deep into surviving records and newspaper clippings and wasn&#8217;t able to find a consistently cited cause.<\/p>\n<p>In his 2019 book <em>History of Firefighting in New Bern, North Carolina \u2013 Colonial Days to the 21st Century<\/em>, Bartholf writes &#8220;On November 6, 1904, Assistant Chief Johnnie J. Gaskill died at 29 because of complications from a \u201cbrief but very distressing illness\u201d. He had been sick for two weeks. His exact cause of death is unclear. (Nov. 8, 1904 The Daily Journal)&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Looking at some surviving newspaper clippings, see below, this information is presented:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Charlotte <em>Daily Observer<\/em> &#8211; Nov 8, 1904 &#8211; &#8220;&#8230;died last night after a week&#8217;s illness of blood-poisoning.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>Daily Journal<\/em> &#8211; Nov 8, 1904 &#8211; &#8220;He had been sick for two weeks and from the first his case was regarded as desperate.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>North Carolinian<\/em> &#8211; Nov 10, 1904 &#8211; &#8220;The cause was a complication of diseases.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Gaskill was buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery on November 8. The hearse was drawn by the state&#8217;s oldest fire horse, &#8220;Old Jim.&#8221; Recounted a special report to the Charlotte Observer, &#8220;Both fire companies attended in a body, and the fire bell was tolled as the services were being conducted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Alas, no death certificate has been found to date by Legeros.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Gaskill was the second LODD in New Bern, after Guy Styron in 1894, and followed by Edgar Elliott in 1931 and Robert Broadstreet in 1963.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6741\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"655\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-1-300x246.jpg 300w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-1-730x598.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6742\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"679\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-2.jpg 800w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-2-300x255.jpg 300w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-2-730x620.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6743\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"746\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-3.jpg 800w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-3-300x280.jpg 300w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-3-730x681.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-4.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6744\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"685\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-4.jpg 800w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-4-300x257.jpg 300w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022-11-06-nbfd-4-730x625.jpg 730w\" 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Gaskill die in the line of duty on November 6, 1904? His death has been long-attributed to injuries resulting from a fire horse kicking him in the head. In recent years, NBFD historian Daniel Bartholf dug deep into surviving records and newspaper clippings and &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/johnnie-gaskill\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;Death of New Bern Assistant Fire Chief Johnnie Gaskill, 1904&rsquo; &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n<div data-animation=\"no-animation\" data-icons-animation=\"no-animation\" data-overlay=\"on\" data-change-size=\"\" data-button-size=\"0.7\" style=\"font-size:0.7em!important;display:none;\" class=\"supsystic-social-sharing supsystic-social-sharing-package-flat supsystic-social-sharing-content supsystic-social-sharing-content-align-left\" data-text=\"\"><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fjohnnie-gaskill%2F\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u={url}\" data-nid=\"1\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6740\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"Death of New Bern Assistant Fire Chief Johnnie Gaskill, 1904\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-facebook\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fjohnnie-gaskill%2F&text=Death+of+New+Bern+Assistant+Fire+Chief+Johnnie+Gaskill%2C+1904\" data-main-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url={url}&text={title}\" data-nid=\"2\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6740\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"Death of New Bern Assistant Fire Chief Johnnie Gaskill, 1904\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-twitter\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pinterest\" href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fjohnnie-gaskill%2F&description=Death+of+New+Bern+Assistant+Fire+Chief+Johnnie+Gaskill%2C+1904\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url={url}&description={title}\" data-nid=\"7\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"6740\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"Death of New Bern Assistant Fire Chief Johnnie Gaskill, 1904\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-pinterest\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6740"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6740"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9920,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6740\/revisions\/9920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}