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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Presley Wise | July 11, 1891 | at D W. Padgetts plantation | Homicide | ||
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Al White | October 12, 1898 | at Mundy[?] Place | Homicide | ||
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Eddie Watson | Infant | April 25, 1892 | at Bob Stevens | Natural Causes | |
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Caroline Coleman | July 25, 1893 | at Brisel[?] Blacks Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Henry Padget | freedman | November 14, 1866 | at Wm Padgets premises on Clouds Creek | Homicide | |
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident |