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 W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | October 6, 1891 | at her Residence | Unknown | |
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
Pompy Robinson | November 1, 1898 | at Norris Place | Natural Causes | ||
Joseph W. Glover | September 2, 1844 | at Charles Comptys[?] Hotel | Homicide | ||
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
Henry Padget | freedman | November 14, 1866 | at Wm Padgets premises on Clouds Creek | Homicide | |
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | 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 | ||
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident | ||
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
John M. Tillman | May 6, 1860 | at Mr J.A Tillmans Steam Mill | Homicide | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1858 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Jim | slave | June 10, 1859 | at M, L, Bonham Esqr residence on the Pine House road | Natural Causes | |
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide |