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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
Jno. C Swearingin | April 24, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Mary | female Slave | January 13, 1853 | at Isaac Bowles[?] | Accident | |
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
Sarah Scurry | September 28, 1844 | at the House of Sarah Scurry | Suicide | ||
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Ana May Blocker | child | December 2, 1894 | at Ben Boatwrights farm | Natural Causes | |
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
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 | ||
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Goodman | May 4, 1851 | at or near to William H Adams on little horse Creek | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Julia Van | June 20, 1892 | at the plantation of Mr Joe Thurmond | Homicide | ||
Dudley Roundtree | August 10, 1856 | at the dwelling house of the late Dudley Roundtree | Natural Causes | ||
infant Boy | infant Boy | October 29, 1894 | at [?] Coleman | Natural Causes | |
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
Mid[?] Griffin | February 2, 1895 | at the Govelace[?] Place | Natural Causes | ||
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
infant | infant | January 22, 1894 | at Oak Gilchrist House | Natural Causes | |
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
Cooper | slave | March 17, 1852 | at the plantation of L.H. Mundy decd | Natural Causes | |
Emaline Jackson | August 27, 1894 | at Dr Childs Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
John J. Cobb | July 23, 1843 | at William Elkins Mill Pond | Suicide | ||
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
Henry Jennings | September 14, 1891 | at the residense of diceased | Natural Causes | ||
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident |