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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
William H Maharey | May 25, 1863 | at Haslin Factory on the Procelian Manufacturing Company | Accident | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
John J. Cobb | July 23, 1843 | at William Elkins Mill Pond | Suicide | ||
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Joseph Moore Jr. | April 19, 1846 | at the house of Dr John D. Nicholson | Natural Causes | ||
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Sallie Busch | August 21, 1892 | at Lewis Beans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
infant male child | infant male child | January 3, 1894 | in Edgefield County | Natural Causes | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Mike | negro man | September 13, 1844 | at Dr John D. Nicholsons Mill | Accident | |
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
Harry | negro boy | September 9, 1858 | at the residence of the Rev. J. L. Brooks | Accident | |
Charles | negro man | February 27, 1850 | at Scotts Shoals on Savannah River | Accident | |
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Nancy Weaver | December 20, 1893 | at Edgefield Court House | Accident | ||
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Matt Loyd | February 24, 1891 | at Mr. Carmal cemetary near the Old Wills | Natural Causes | ||
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide |