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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | July 24, 1892 | at Promised Land School house | Unknown | |
Joseph Riddle | April 10, 1856 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Al White | October 12, 1898 | at Mundy[?] Place | Homicide | ||
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Gertrude | infant child | December 1, 1891 | at Edgfield Court house | Accident | |
John Brown | December 20, 1844 | at the house of John Brown | Natural Causes | ||
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | October 6, 1891 | at her Residence | Unknown | |
Daniel | slave, boy | April 28, 1859 | at L. Halls Tisery[?] | Suicide | |
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Joseph W. Glover | September 2, 1844 | at Charles Comptys[?] Hotel | Homicide | ||
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
Clara Bell | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Everett Hook | July 18, 1891 | at the saw Mill of M J Hook | Accident | ||
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
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 | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
Amanda Glover | August 30, 1892 | at Mr Pofse[?] Lotts Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
Mary | Slave | May 17, 1847 | at the Plantation of A. Perrin | Homicide | |
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
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 | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Milledge Denny | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Cooper | slave | March 17, 1852 | at the plantation of L.H. Mundy decd | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | September 15, 1861 | at the residence of Mrs Margret Willis | Accident | |
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
A. P. Shultz | January 9, 1850 | at or near Solomon Clickleys[?] | Unknown | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident | ||
Dudley Roundtree | August 10, 1856 | at the dwelling house of the late Dudley Roundtree | Natural Causes |