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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Robert Johnston | May 23, 1891 | at Clarks Ferry below bridge on C. & G.[?] R R | Accident | ||
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Hampton Weaver | colored | July 17, 1869 | at the house of and on the farm of James T Outz | Accident | shotgun |
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Richard | negro boy Slave | September 9, 1850 | at Thomas Garretts | Accident | machinery |
Isah Zimmerman | December 26, 1881 | at the Residence of W F Ste[?]eies | Accident | pistol | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Mary Blocker | December 6, 1894 | at R H Parks | Accident | strychnine | |
Charles | negro man | February 27, 1850 | at Scotts Shoals on Savannah River | Accident | |
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
George Bowers | May 26, 1891 | at Kenards bend | Accident | mule | |
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Wallace Halloway | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield Court house | Accident | train | |
Sam | negro man | October 19, 1856 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road between the Paper Mill and Marsh's | Accident | train |
Mike | negro man | September 13, 1844 | at Dr John D. Nicholsons Mill | Accident | |
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Unknown | October 10, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | train | |
Gertrude | infant child | December 1, 1891 | at Edgfield Court house | Accident | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Ryal | Negro Slave | July 28, 1851 | at Mr Thos McKies Batteau landing on Big Stephen's Creek | Accident | |
John Scott | May 10, 1851 | at Vaucluse[?] Factory | Accident | horse | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Joseph Jay | October 4, 1860 | at Joseph Jays | Accident | horse | |
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Everett Hook | July 18, 1891 | at the saw Mill of M J Hook | Accident | ||
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Nancy Weaver | December 20, 1893 | at Edgefield Court House | Accident | ||
Uriah Koon | October 16, 1847 | at the house of Col John Hunt | Accident | wagon | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Abram | man slave | August 17, 1860 | at the Residence of Gen[?] Jas B. Griffin | Accident | snake |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Harry | negro boy | September 9, 1858 | at the residence of the Rev. J. L. Brooks | Accident | |
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Edward Horton | August 7, 1879 | near Wesley Barrs[?] | Accident | sunstroke | |
Manerva Sanders | March 22, 1890 | at Webb S.C | Accident | tornado | |
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident |