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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Rose | negro woman Slave | March 14, 1846 | at Michael Longs | Homicide | |
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
Rose | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Robert | slave, boy | April 8, 1847 | at Edward Hampton's | Suicide | |
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Warren Kirkland | November 16, 1858 | at Benjamin Bartons | Homicide | ||
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
Mahlon Jones | December 25, 1891 | at Landrams Farm | Homicide | ||
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
John McManas | December 4, 1883 | at the Jail | Accident | ||
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
John G. Riddle | July 3, 1860 | at the residence of Mr Richard Burton | Natural Causes | ||
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
R. Mackgrath | January 5, 1852 | at the house of John Dobey | Other | ||
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Allen Bauknight | freedman | June 11, 1866 | at William Bauknights | Accident | |
Caroline Coleman | July 25, 1893 | at Brisel[?] Blacks Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Isham Glover | August 9, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide |