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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lindy Jones | March 15, 1882 | at George Holingsworth House | Accident | ||
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | August 5, 1878 | at the residence of H J Wright | Homicide | |
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
George Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Jane Glover | January 12, 1883 | at Handy Tanks House on John Wir[?] plantation | Unknown | ||
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Lizzie Greeg | July 4, 1884 | at Capt Taliar[?] Hearin[?] | Natural Causes | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Adam Barker | August 10, 1879 | at the Residence of Adam Barker Decd | Suicide | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Cooper | slave | March 17, 1852 | at the plantation of L.H. Mundy decd | Natural Causes | |
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Charley Geeter | October 27, 1881 | at Violets Geeter's house | Accident | ||
Dudley Roundtree | August 10, 1856 | at the dwelling house of the late Dudley Roundtree | Natural Causes | ||
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Isaac Oliphant | November 9, 1882 | at Ritch Thomson | Accident | ||
Sallie Busch | August 21, 1892 | at Lewis Beans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Lizzy Rardon | September 28, 1879 | at Clansey Holloways plantation | Accident |