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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Charly Washington | boy | November 22, 1891 | at the house of George Washington near Bauknights ferry | Accident | |
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
William H Maharey | May 25, 1863 | at Haslin Factory on the Procelian Manufacturing Company | Accident | ||
Sarah Scurry | September 28, 1844 | at the House of Sarah Scurry | Suicide | ||
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
Mary | female Slave | January 13, 1853 | at Isaac Bowles[?] | Accident | |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Pompy Robinson | November 1, 1898 | at Norris Place | Natural Causes | ||
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Mary Bright Hanpt[?] | October 6, 1881 | at Bright Hanpt[?] | Unknown | ||
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Cooper | slave | March 17, 1852 | at the plantation of L.H. Mundy decd | Natural Causes | |
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
John J. Cobb | July 23, 1843 | at William Elkins Mill Pond | Suicide | ||
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
Dudley Roundtree | August 10, 1856 | at the dwelling house of the late Dudley Roundtree | Natural Causes | ||
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Sallie Busch | August 21, 1892 | at Lewis Beans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Mahlon Jones | December 25, 1891 | at Landrams Farm | Homicide | ||
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
B. J. Mims | January 20, 1885 | at the Residence of Capt B J Mims | Natural Causes | ||
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident |