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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cap Bryan | February 25, 1893 | at the plantation of Mrs Doziers | Accident | ||
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident | |
Sarah Scurry | September 28, 1844 | at the House of Sarah Scurry | Suicide | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Henry Goodman | May 4, 1851 | at or near to William H Adams on little horse Creek | Accident | ||
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
William H Maharey | May 25, 1863 | at Haslin Factory on the Procelian Manufacturing Company | Accident | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
Mary | female Slave | January 13, 1853 | at Isaac Bowles[?] | Accident | |
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Hardy Boulware | January 2, 1862 | at Hardy Boulwares | Homicide | ||
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
John J. Cobb | July 23, 1843 | at William Elkins Mill Pond | Suicide | ||
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
Lidda Hampton | November 24, 1893 | at A Derrecks | Natural Causes | ||
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide |