Edgefield County, SC
Total population (1850): 39,262
Enslaved population (1850): 22,725
Percent slave: 58%
Extant nineteenth-century inquests: 524
Date range: 1829-1899
Percentage of violent crimes in county sample: 39% (202/524)
The small, rural district of Edgefield, South Carolina was the Deadwood of its day, amassing a reputation for murder and mayhem unique in the nation. Forget the gangs of New York, the toughs in tailored suits strutting about Edgefield's Court House Square were up for almost anything. Take this typical exchange between Thomas Cherry and Charles Cobb.
Cherry: "You Damn puppy."
Cobb: "What are you?"
Cherry: "Do you mean to call me a Damn puppy?"
Cobb: "What are you?"
Cherry: "If you call me a Puppy, I will ag you in the face."
Cobb: "You are nothing else."
With that Cherry stabbed Cobb through the face with an umbrella.
"If we over in Edgefield insult each other, there is generally a fight or a funeral afterwards," noted Ben Tillman, one of the ten men of the district to serve the state as governor. Like Tillman, circuit judge Thomas Mackey took an almost perverse pride in the region's reputation. "I am going to hold court in Edgefield," he told a friend, "and I expect a somewhat exciting term, as the fall shooting is about to start."
Like most reputations, Edgefield's was at once deserved and exaggerated. At 39 percent, Edgefield County does have the highest proportion of violent crimes in the CSI:D sample. At 35 percent, Greenville County is not that far behind. More important, Edgefield's reputation for affairs of honor masks the mountain of dishonorable violence revealed by the morgue. Men spoiling for a fight on the street are rarely much different at home. In June 1893, Bill Gasten was sitting near his wood pile when his wife emerged from the house to draw some water from the well. Something she said set him off and he grabbed up a walking stick, hit her with it, then threw her down and began choking her. Emerging from the kitchen, her sister grabbed up the stick and told Bill to "let his wife alone." She had just started back to the kitchen when Bill cracked her head with a hoe.
Edgefield County, SC Inquests
Name | Deceased Description | Date | Inquest Location | Death Type | Death Method |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Jim | slave | June 10, 1859 | at M, L, Bonham Esqr residence on the Pine House road | Natural Causes | |
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill | Accident | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Lucius Walker | October 5, 1869 | at James Doziers plantation | Accident | ||
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
George Hatcher | freedman | June 19, 1867 | at B. W. Hatchers Mill on Shaws creek | Natural Causes | |
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Kenneth Martor[?] | January 15, 1852 | at Thomas Samar's[?] Mills on horse creek | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Peyton Bird | colored | September 29, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Natural Causes | |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide |