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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Edward Johnston | December 26, 1892 | at William Bushes | Unknown | ||
Rose | negro woman Slave | March 14, 1846 | at Michael Longs | Homicide | |
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Rose | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Lesthia Ridlehouse[Ridlehover?] | January 5, 1892 | at the Residence of Mrs Edny Mary | Accident | ||
Mary Bright Hanpt[?] | October 6, 1881 | at Bright Hanpt[?] | Unknown | ||
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Robert | slave, boy | April 8, 1847 | at Edward Hampton's | Suicide | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
William Samuel | April 26, 1891 | at Scima[?] Hill Church | Homicide | ||
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Willie Toney | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident |