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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
Jno. C Swearingin | April 24, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Ana May Blocker | child | December 2, 1894 | at Ben Boatwrights farm | Natural Causes | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Julia Van | June 20, 1892 | at the plantation of Mr Joe Thurmond | Homicide | ||
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Rose | negro woman Slave | March 14, 1846 | at Michael Longs | Homicide | |
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Mid[?] Griffin | February 2, 1895 | at the Govelace[?] Place | Natural Causes | ||
Rose | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
infant | infant | January 22, 1894 | at Oak Gilchrist House | Natural Causes | |
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Robert | slave, boy | April 8, 1847 | at Edward Hampton's | Suicide | |
Emaline Jackson | August 27, 1894 | at Dr Childs Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Mary Bright Hanpt[?] | October 6, 1881 | at Bright Hanpt[?] | Unknown | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
infant Boy | infant Boy | October 29, 1894 | at [?] Coleman | Natural Causes | |
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident |