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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
Ora Weaver | February 21, 1891 | at the plantation of D B. H Holfarth[illegible - ink blot] | Accident | ||
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown | |
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide | ||
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
James Edward Settle | boy | March 9, 1884 | on Henry Hill Plantation | Accident | |
Lucious Perry | November 8, 1891 | at the plantation of Ben Boatwright | Homicide | ||
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
Richard Mims | August 1, 1899 | at the plantation of Mrs. H. Carter | Accident | ||
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
Enoch Douglass | August 11, 1879 | near Wesly Barrs on the rail road | Accident | ||
J. F. Styron | April 21, 1891 | at residence of J. F. Styron[?] | Accident | ||
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Rachiel Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
Doublin | male slave, boy | April 5, 1857 | at the Residence of Mrs Delila Philips | Natural Causes | |
Alick Croker | boy | September 29, 1878 | at Mrs. Marshes premises | Accident | |
Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation | Accident | ||
Bettie Willis | March 24, 1892 | at the Croker place the home of Miss Bettie Willis | Natural Causes | ||
Levi S. Mathews | July 13, 1892 | at G. C. Wheerles[?] Residence | Natural Causes |