From the Richmond Sentinel, 7/2/64
Fatal Accident. – A singular and fatal accident occurred on Union Hill early yesterday morning. A negro woman, named Nancy, slave of Dr. Thomas Burton; having drawn a bucket of water from a well, was in the act of securing it with her left hand when the chain by which it was suspended snapped, and the bucket jerked the woman headlong into the well. A number of persons ran to the spot, and set about getting her out; but before that could be done life was found to be extinct. Her skull had been horribly fractured, by violent contact with the side of the well in her fall; and she must have expired almost on the moment of reaching the water.