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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jim | slave | June 10, 1859 | at M, L, Bonham Esqr residence on the Pine House road | Natural Causes | |
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
Mike | negro man | September 13, 1844 | at Dr John D. Nicholsons Mill | Accident | |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Charles | negro man | February 27, 1850 | at Scotts Shoals on Savannah River | Accident | |
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
infant male child | infant male child | January 3, 1894 | in Edgefield County | Natural Causes | |
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Garett Doby | October 11, 1880 | at William Rufus | Natural Causes | ||
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Joseph Riddle | April 10, 1856 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | July 24, 1892 | at Promised Land School house | Unknown | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Gertrude | infant child | December 1, 1891 | at Edgfield Court house | Accident | |
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
Ras | slave | December 6, 1850 | at D Dennys Mill | Suicide | |
George Hatcher | freedman | June 19, 1867 | at B. W. Hatchers Mill on Shaws creek | Natural Causes | |
Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill | Accident | ||
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Prince | negro man | October 27, 1844 | at Mrs Elizabeth Timmermans | Suicide | |
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Ryal | Negro Slave | July 28, 1851 | at Mr Thos McKies Batteau landing on Big Stephen's Creek | Accident | |
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Everett Hook | July 18, 1891 | at the saw Mill of M J Hook | Accident | ||
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
Amanda Glover | August 30, 1892 | at Mr Pofse[?] Lotts Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | October 6, 1891 | at her Residence | Unknown | |
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes |