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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Milledge Denny | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | September 15, 1861 | at the residence of Mrs Margret Willis | Accident | |
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
A. P. Shultz | January 9, 1850 | at or near Solomon Clickleys[?] | Unknown | ||
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Mary Bright Hanpt[?] | October 6, 1881 | at Bright Hanpt[?] | Unknown | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Mary | Slave | May 17, 1847 | at the Plantation of A. Perrin | Homicide | |
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
Joseph Moore Jr. | April 19, 1846 | at the house of Dr John D. Nicholson | Natural Causes | ||
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Tom | negro slave | December 18, 1858 | at Chlo Watsons | Homicide | |
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Simon C. Wood[?] | December 26, 1857 | at Wm Calelaziers[?] | Natural Causes | ||
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
white man | white man | October 21, 1849 | in the woods near Holsonbakers[?] old fields | Natural Causes | |
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
infant male child | infant male child | January 3, 1894 | in Edgefield County | Natural Causes | |
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Harry | negro boy | September 9, 1858 | at the residence of the Rev. J. L. Brooks | Accident | |
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Nancy Weaver | December 20, 1893 | at Edgefield Court House | Accident | ||
B. J. Mims | January 20, 1885 | at the Residence of Capt B J Mims | Natural Causes | ||
Enoch Douglass | August 11, 1879 | near Wesly Barrs on the rail road | Accident | ||
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Rachiel Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes |