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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Lindy Jones | March 15, 1882 | at George Holingsworth House | Accident | ||
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | August 5, 1878 | at the residence of H J Wright | Homicide | |
Charly Washington | boy | November 22, 1891 | at the house of George Washington near Bauknights ferry | Accident | |
George Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
Pompy Robinson | November 1, 1898 | at Norris Place | Natural Causes | ||
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Jane Glover | January 12, 1883 | at Handy Tanks House on John Wir[?] plantation | Unknown | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Lizzie Greeg | July 4, 1884 | at Capt Taliar[?] Hearin[?] | Natural Causes | ||
Cooper | slave | March 17, 1852 | at the plantation of L.H. Mundy decd | Natural Causes | |
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Adam Barker | August 10, 1879 | at the Residence of Adam Barker Decd | Suicide | ||
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Dudley Roundtree | August 10, 1856 | at the dwelling house of the late Dudley Roundtree | Natural Causes | ||
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
Charley Geeter | October 27, 1881 | at Violets Geeter's house | Accident | ||
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
Matt Loyd | February 24, 1891 | at Mr. Carmal cemetary near the Old Wills | Natural Causes | ||
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
Mahlon Jones | December 25, 1891 | at Landrams Farm | Homicide | ||
Isaac Oliphant | November 9, 1882 | at Ritch Thomson | Accident | ||
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
Sallie Busch | August 21, 1892 | at Lewis Beans plantation | Natural Causes |