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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
Mary | female Slave | January 13, 1853 | at Isaac Bowles[?] | Accident | |
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
Emanuel Johnson | October 7, 1893 | at Wards | Accident | train | |
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
Hugh Wetherford | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Accident | train | |
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
William H Maharey | May 25, 1863 | at Haslin Factory on the Procelian Manufacturing Company | Accident | ||
Lawrence Frazier | child | January 14, 1895 | at D.B. Holingsworths | Accident | |
Curry | slave | March 17, 1856 | at Mrs Elizabeth Middletons Plantation | Accident | |
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Henry Goodman | May 4, 1851 | at or near to William H Adams on little horse Creek | Accident | ||
J. F. Styron | April 21, 1891 | at residence of J. F. Styron[?] | Accident | ||
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation | Accident | ||
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
Sallie Young | December 8, 1890 | at Mr A. F Broadwaters Plantation | Accident | ||
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
Richard Mims | August 1, 1899 | at the plantation of Mrs. H. Carter | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | January 18, 1892 | at the Plantation of L. G. Swearinger | Accident | |
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
George Low | col | June 6, 1869 | at Sand Bar Ferry | Accident | stems of yellow jasmine |
Solomon | negro man | June 24, 1844 | near the Mill of George A. McKee on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
Ora Weaver | February 21, 1891 | at the plantation of D B. H Holfarth[illegible - ink blot] | Accident | ||
Richard | negro boy Slave | September 9, 1850 | at Thomas Garretts | Accident | machinery |
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Sarah Lucas | October 30, 1890 | at Mr. M L Holson | Accident | ||
Isah Zimmerman | December 26, 1881 | at the Residence of W F Ste[?]eies | Accident | pistol | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Billy | November 28, 1857 | at the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | wagon | |
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
James Blocker | May 6, 1897 | Accident | train | ||
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
Fannie Ford | March 5, 1893 | at Trenton S.C. | Accident | train | |
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
William Humphry | January 4, 1894 | at Etheridge Bridge | Accident | pocket knife | |
Joseph Jay | October 4, 1860 | at Joseph Jays | Accident | horse | |
Isaac | negro man | December 1, 1856 | at a point on the South Carolina Rail Road [?] Brooks Mill creek | Accident | train |