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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ana May Blocker | child | December 2, 1894 | at Ben Boatwrights farm | Natural Causes | |
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
John G. Riddle | July 3, 1860 | at the residence of Mr Richard Burton | Natural Causes | ||
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Emaline Jackson | August 27, 1894 | at Dr Childs Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
infant Boy | infant Boy | October 29, 1894 | at [?] Coleman | Natural Causes | |
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
infant | infant | January 22, 1894 | at Oak Gilchrist House | Natural Causes | |
Lidda Hampton | November 24, 1893 | at A Derrecks | Natural Causes | ||
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Mid[?] Griffin | February 2, 1895 | at the Govelace[?] Place | Natural Causes | ||
Samuel Posey | October 21, 1860 | at P. B. McDaniels | Homicide | pistol | |
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
Henry | male slave | July 15, 1858 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | hickory stick |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Elijah Reynolds | April 11, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | pistol | |
John Webb | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Prophet Burt | freedman | December 29, 1866 | at E.N. Troys | Homicide | knife |
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
Daniel | slave, boy | May 27, 1862 | at John H. Fair | Homicide | shotgun |
Harry Anderson | December 16, 1882 | at Clinton Ward | Homicide | pistol | |
Robert Neid | free man of Colour | August 26, 1847 | at Vaudun[?] Factory | Homicide | dirk knife |
Eugene McCarty | May 11, 1861 | at Edgefield Court house | Homicide | pistol | |
Lizzy | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | axe |
Mary Randall | October 19, 1857 | at the Residence of John Randall | Homicide | razor | |
Eldred Glover | March 2, 1852 | at the house of John Doby | Homicide | pistol | |
Lewis | negro man, boy | March 14, 1861 | at Charles Hammonds Brickyard | Homicide | pistol |
Teague Tillman | October 2, 1899 | at the plantation of Thos. H. Ramsford | Homicide | pistol | |
Jesse Weatherford | September 4, 1849 | at the plantation of Mrs R Blaylock | Homicide | shotgun | |
Randal | negro man | May 9, 1844 | at Grancis Bettis's plantation on Horns Creek | Homicide | cow skin |
John E. Elsmore | November 28, 1869 | at the house of John E. Elsmore | Homicide | pistol | |
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Carey Ashley | October 11, 1879 | at J W Wises[?] plantation | Homicide | pistol | |
Louisa Laudon | October 11, 1869 | at Dorns Steam Mills near Rocky Creek | Homicide | knife | |
William Cloud | July 8, 1851 | at the Spaun[?] Hotel | Homicide | pistol | |
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Charles Cobb | March 13, 1893 | at or near Johnston | Homicide | umbrella | |
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
Lee Ryan | September 27, 1877 | at the plantation of Abram F Broadwater | Homicide | iron instrument | |
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide |