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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jim | slave | June 10, 1859 | at M, L, Bonham Esqr residence on the Pine House road | Natural Causes | |
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
Joe | infant negro | August 26, 1860 | at John Huiets | Accident | |
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
James Perry | December 27, 1894 | at Mt Enon Church | Accident | ||
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Fannie Patton | November 18, 1898 | at Francis Williams house | Accident | ||
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Reubin Weaver | December 28, 1895 | at Elijah Boatwrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
George Hatcher | freedman | June 19, 1867 | at B. W. Hatchers Mill on Shaws creek | Natural Causes | |
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Lidia Watson | January 26, 1894 | at J E Macks | Accident | ||
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Charly Washington | boy | November 22, 1891 | at the house of George Washington near Bauknights ferry | Accident | |
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Pompy Robinson | November 1, 1898 | at Norris Place | Natural Causes | ||
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes |