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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Henry Padget | freedman | November 14, 1866 | at Wm Padgets premises on Clouds Creek | Homicide | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Infant Boy Child Colored | Infant Boy Child Colored | February 15, 1883 | at the residence of Charles Coleman | Unknown | |
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
Sarah Scurry | September 28, 1844 | at the House of Sarah Scurry | Suicide | ||
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
John M. Tillman | May 6, 1860 | at Mr J.A Tillmans Steam Mill | Homicide | ||
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1858 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes |