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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
Peyton Bird | colored | September 29, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Natural Causes | |
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident | |
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident | ||
Henry Padget | freedman | November 14, 1866 | at Wm Padgets premises on Clouds Creek | Homicide | |
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Robert Johnston | May 23, 1891 | at Clarks Ferry below bridge on C. & G.[?] R R | Accident | ||
Lidda Hampton | November 24, 1893 | at A Derrecks | Natural Causes | ||
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Thomas Rosseter[?] | August 30, 1852 | at Hamburg SC | Accident | ||
John M. Tillman | May 6, 1860 | at Mr J.A Tillmans Steam Mill | Homicide | ||
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Hardy Boulware | January 2, 1862 | at Hardy Boulwares | Homicide | ||
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
Isaac Grimer | December 10, 1868 | at Jacobs Branch on the Spaun Church road | Accident | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1858 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
James Leppard | February 13, 1893 | at F. M. Leppards | Natural Causes | ||
John G. Riddle | July 3, 1860 | at the residence of Mr Richard Burton | Natural Causes | ||
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
Jim | slave | June 10, 1859 | at M, L, Bonham Esqr residence on the Pine House road | Natural Causes | |
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide |