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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Sallie Busch | August 21, 1892 | at Lewis Beans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Alick Croker | boy | September 29, 1878 | at Mrs. Marshes premises | Accident | |
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Patrick Burns[?] | November 4, 1858 | at the residence of Richard Campbell | Natural Causes | ||
Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill | Accident | ||
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Prince | negro man | October 27, 1844 | at Mrs Elizabeth Timmermans | Suicide | |
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Ryal | Negro Slave | July 28, 1851 | at Mr Thos McKies Batteau landing on Big Stephen's Creek | Accident | |
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
James Edward Settle | boy | March 9, 1884 | on Henry Hill Plantation | Accident | |
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Garett Doby | October 11, 1880 | at William Rufus | Natural Causes | ||
Enoch Douglass | August 11, 1879 | near Wesly Barrs on the rail road | Accident | ||
Lucius Walker | October 5, 1869 | at James Doziers plantation | Accident | ||
Infant | Infant | December 18, 1894 | at the Rinheart Grave yard | Unknown | |
Rachiel Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | July 24, 1892 | at Promised Land School house | Unknown | |
Kisiah Frazier | December 17, 1893 | at the plantation of T S Rainsforde | Natural Causes | ||
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
Gertrude | infant child | December 1, 1891 | at Edgfield Court house | Accident | |
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | October 6, 1891 | at her Residence | Unknown | |
Jane Glover | January 12, 1883 | at Handy Tanks House on John Wir[?] plantation | Unknown | ||
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Joseph W. Glover | September 2, 1844 | at Charles Comptys[?] Hotel | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Lindy Jones | March 15, 1882 | at George Holingsworth House | Accident | ||
Kenneth Martor[?] | January 15, 1852 | at Thomas Samar's[?] Mills on horse creek | Accident | ||
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident |