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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alfred Hollingsworth | October 10, 1898 | at David Strothers place | Homicide | razor | |
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
Bridgett Etheridge | June 26, 1893 | at John Etheridges Residence | Homicide | hoe | |
Tom | negro slave | December 18, 1858 | at Chlo Watsons | Homicide | |
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | August 5, 1878 | at the residence of H J Wright | Homicide | |
Jim | negro boy | July 23, 1855 | at Wade Holsteens | Homicide | knife |
Mahlon Jones | December 25, 1891 | at Landrams Farm | Homicide | ||
Wilson Griffin | freedman | February 13, 1867 | at Luke Rodgers | Homicide | |
Tandy Holmes | September 21, 1894 | at or on Dr. W.C. Prescotts Plantation | Homicide | ||
Al White | October 12, 1898 | at Mundy[?] Place | Homicide | ||
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
John Laudrum | October 11, 1869 | at Dons Steam Mills near Rocky Creek | Homicide | knife | |
Allen Smith | Freedman | January 19, 1867 | at S.B. Chappells Residence | Homicide | pistol |
Isaac Matthias Jones | October 14, 1858 | at the house of Lewis Jones (Sr) at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | knife | |
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Isaah Golden | August 27, 1860 | at Silverton Beach iland | Homicide | knife | |
Ben Lowman | September 14, 1894 | at W.[?] L. Rawls Mills | Homicide | pistol | |
Presley Wise | July 11, 1891 | at D W. Padgetts plantation | Homicide | ||
Augustus W. Burt | March 25, 1847 | at the Plantation of A.W. Burt | Homicide | axe | |
J. D. Ouzts | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield | Homicide | pistol | |
James Reynolds | December 20, 1860 | at the residence of James Reynolds | Homicide | ||
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
Frank Holson | freedman | January 9, 1867 | at Lee Holson | Homicide | pistol |
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
Matilda H. Posey | February 26, 1849 | at the house of Martin Posey | Homicide | stick | |
Griff Zimmerman | October 9, 1899 | at Johnston Township | Homicide | pistol | |
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Hardy Boulware | January 2, 1862 | at Hardy Boulwares | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | December 14, 1877 | at Dr. K N Hudsons plantation | Homicide | |
Isaac Boseley | July 5, 1880 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | pistol | |
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
Baze | negro slave | March 31, 1863 | at the D. J. Howls | Homicide | chop axe |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
Sam Howard | Freedman | August 6, 1866 | at L. L. Halls | Homicide | knife |
Edmond Sharpton | December 20, 1866 | at the House of Mrs J.P. Brewer | Homicide | pistol | |
William Thurmond | February 14, 1856 | at Edgefield Court House, Planters[?] Hotel | Homicide | chair | |
John Williams | August 21, 1898 | at S H Nicholson | Homicide | stick | |
Willis Asbell | December 7, 1877 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Allen Holmes | March 4, 1882 | at Oscar Seigler Residence | Homicide | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide |