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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stephen Stalmaker | August 30, 1850 | at J.M.C. Freeland's | Homicide | plank | |
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
Hammond Frasier | November 6, 1897 | at Trenton S.C. | Homicide | pistol | |
Willis Asbell | December 7, 1877 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | ||
John M. Tillman | May 6, 1860 | at Mr J.A Tillmans Steam Mill | Homicide | ||
Lucious Perry | November 8, 1891 | at the plantation of Ben Boatwright | Homicide | ||
Willie Toney | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Allen Holmes | March 4, 1882 | at Oscar Seigler Residence | Homicide | ||
Alfred Hollingsworth | October 10, 1898 | at David Strothers place | Homicide | razor | |
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | December 14, 1877 | at Dr. K N Hudsons plantation | Homicide | |
Prince | negro boy | December 23, 1849 | at Thos G. Lamars Mills on little horse creek | Homicide | knife |
William Samuel | April 26, 1891 | at Scima[?] Hill Church | Homicide | ||
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
William | negro man, boy, slave | February 13, 1849 | at R. F. Barretts | Homicide | knife |
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
Bill King | August 9, 1881 | at H C Kings Residence | Homicide | hoe | |
Andrew Trapp | December 4, 1869 | near Trapps Mills | Homicide | knife | |
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
Robert Parks | September 27, 1894 | at Parkville | Homicide | lick | |
Tandy Holmes | September 21, 1894 | at or on Dr. W.C. Prescotts Plantation | Homicide | ||
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 | ||
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Henry Burt | June 21, 1895 | at Henry Burts | Homicide | knife | |
Ben Lowman | September 14, 1894 | at W.[?] L. Rawls Mills | Homicide | pistol | |
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Augustus W. Burt | March 25, 1847 | at the Plantation of A.W. Burt | Homicide | axe | |
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Michael Long | April 17, 1849 | at the house of Michael Long | Homicide | shotgun | |
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Frank Holson | freedman | January 9, 1867 | at Lee Holson | Homicide | pistol |
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
Jno. C Swearingin | April 24, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Griff Zimmerman | October 9, 1899 | at Johnston Township | Homicide | pistol | |
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
J. D. Ouzts | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield | Homicide | pistol | |
Julia Van | June 20, 1892 | at the plantation of Mr Joe Thurmond | Homicide | ||
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
James Bledsoe | May 15, 1893 | at Dr D.P. Lalsrones[?] Residence | Homicide | pistol |