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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ellen | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Liz | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Peter | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Betsey | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Lizzy | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | axe |
Augustus W. Burt | March 25, 1847 | at the Plantation of A.W. Burt | Homicide | axe | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Clara Bell | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
William Lundy | August 28, 1846 | at house of John Rainsford | Accident | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Cap Bryan | February 25, 1893 | at the plantation of Mrs Doziers | Accident | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Daniel | slave, boy | April 28, 1859 | at L. Halls Tisery[?] | Suicide | |
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident | |
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Infant Boy Child Colored | Infant Boy Child Colored | February 15, 1883 | at the residence of Charles Coleman | Unknown | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
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 | |
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | September 15, 1861 | at the residence of Mrs Margret Willis | Accident | |
Lidda Hampton | November 24, 1893 | at A Derrecks | Natural Causes | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
A. P. Shultz | January 9, 1850 | at or near Solomon Clickleys[?] | Unknown | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Mary | Slave | May 17, 1847 | at the Plantation of A. Perrin | Homicide | |
Hardy Boulware | January 2, 1862 | at Hardy Boulwares | Homicide | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide |