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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ellen | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Liz | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Peter | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Betsey | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Augustus W. Burt | March 25, 1847 | at the Plantation of A.W. Burt | Homicide | axe | |
Lizzy | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | axe |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
George W. Medlock | January 1, 1848 | at the house of Daniel Abby | Natural Causes | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Lesthia Ridlehouse[Ridlehover?] | January 5, 1892 | at the Residence of Mrs Edny Mary | Accident | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Robert | slave, boy | April 8, 1847 | at Edward Hampton's | Suicide | |
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Joseph Moore Jr. | April 19, 1846 | at the house of Dr John D. Nicholson | Natural Causes | ||
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
William Samuel | April 26, 1891 | at Scima[?] Hill Church | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Willie Toney | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes |