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 | |
Joseph Jay | October 4, 1860 | at Joseph Jays | Accident | horse | |
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Andrew | negro man | October 6, 1855 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | train |
Kenneth Martor[?] | January 15, 1852 | at Thomas Samar's[?] Mills on horse creek | Accident | ||
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Uriah Koon | October 16, 1847 | at the house of Col John Hunt | Accident | wagon | |
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident | ||
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Steve Yeldell | October 28, 1894 | at Edgefield | Accident | cart | |
Robert Johnston | May 23, 1891 | at Clarks Ferry below bridge on C. & G.[?] R R | Accident | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Edward Horton | August 7, 1879 | near Wesley Barrs[?] | Accident | sunstroke | |
Thomas Rosseter[?] | August 30, 1852 | at Hamburg SC | Accident | ||
Isaac Grimer | December 10, 1868 | at Jacobs Branch on the Spaun Church road | Accident | ||
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Louisa | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Wallace Halloway | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield Court house | Accident | train | |
Sam | negro man | October 19, 1856 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road between the Paper Mill and Marsh's | Accident | train |
Hampton Weaver | colored | July 17, 1869 | at the house of and on the farm of James T Outz | Accident | shotgun |
Mike | negro man | September 13, 1844 | at Dr John D. Nicholsons Mill | Accident | |
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Mary Blocker | December 6, 1894 | at R H Parks | Accident | strychnine | |
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Sherod Holms | October 10, 1884 | at Sherod Holms House | Accident | horse | |
Charles | negro man | February 27, 1850 | at Scotts Shoals on Savannah River | Accident | |
George Bowers | May 26, 1891 | at Kenards bend | Accident | mule | |
William Lundy | August 28, 1846 | at house of John Rainsford | Accident | ||
Simon | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Enoch Douglass | August 11, 1879 | near Wesly Barrs on the rail road | Accident | ||
Billy | November 28, 1857 | at the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | wagon | |
infant child | infant child | September 15, 1861 | at the residence of Mrs Margret Willis | Accident | |
Unknown | October 10, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | train | |
Alick Croker | boy | September 29, 1878 | at Mrs. Marshes premises | Accident | |
James Edward Settle | boy | March 9, 1884 | on Henry Hill Plantation | Accident |