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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Clara Bell | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Isham Glover | August 10, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
George Robinson | January 12, 1892 | at the plantation of E. B. Davis | Natural Causes | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
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 | ||
William Lundy | August 28, 1846 | at house of John Rainsford | Accident | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Mary | Slave | May 17, 1847 | at the Plantation of A. Perrin | Homicide | |
Sallie Young | December 8, 1890 | at Mr A. F Broadwaters Plantation | Accident | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
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 | ||
Milledge Denny | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | November 17, 1891 | at Mr M Toneys place | Unknown | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | January 18, 1892 | at the Plantation of L. G. Swearinger | Accident | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | September 15, 1861 | at the residence of Mrs Margret Willis | Accident | |
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1858 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
A. P. Shultz | January 9, 1850 | at or near Solomon Clickleys[?] | Unknown | ||
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
W. T. Mathis | November 11, 1897 | at the Yeldell place | Natural Causes | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Rebeca Eidson | May 29, 1861 | at the Residence of William Eidson | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Ora Weaver | February 21, 1891 | at the plantation of D B. H Holfarth[illegible - ink blot] | Accident | ||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Tom | negro slave | December 18, 1858 | at Chlo Watsons | 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 | ||
Simon C. Wood[?] | December 26, 1857 | at Wm Calelaziers[?] | Natural Causes | ||
infant male child | infant male child | January 3, 1894 | in Edgefield County | Natural Causes | |
Edmond Price | April 30, 1892 | at Kennys Graveyard | Unknown |