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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown | |
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Joe | infant negro | August 26, 1860 | at John Huiets | Accident | |
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
James Leppard | February 13, 1893 | at F. M. Leppards | Natural Causes | ||
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
R. Mackgrath | January 5, 1852 | at the house of John Dobey | Other | ||
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Enoch Douglass | August 11, 1879 | near Wesly Barrs on the rail road | Accident | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Rachiel Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
George Hatcher | freedman | June 19, 1867 | at B. W. Hatchers Mill on Shaws creek | 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 | ||
Alick Croker | boy | September 29, 1878 | at Mrs. Marshes premises | Accident | |
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
James Edward Settle | boy | March 9, 1884 | on Henry Hill Plantation | Accident | |
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
John Brown | December 20, 1844 | at the house of John Brown | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | August 5, 1878 | at the residence of H J Wright | Homicide | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
George Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Clara Bell | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown |