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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown | |
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
James Leppard | February 13, 1893 | at F. M. Leppards | Natural Causes | ||
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
James Edward Settle | boy | March 9, 1884 | on Henry Hill Plantation | Accident | |
Richard Mims | August 1, 1899 | at the plantation of Mrs. H. Carter | Accident | ||
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
J. F. Styron | April 21, 1891 | at residence of J. F. Styron[?] | Accident | ||
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Enoch Douglass | August 11, 1879 | near Wesly Barrs on the rail road | Accident | ||
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Rachiel Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation | Accident | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Alick Croker | boy | September 29, 1878 | at Mrs. Marshes premises | Accident | |
Levi S. Mathews | July 13, 1892 | at G. C. Wheerles[?] Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Lindy Jones | March 15, 1882 | at George Holingsworth House | Accident | ||
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Julia Van | June 20, 1892 | at the plantation of Mr Joe Thurmond | Homicide | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | August 5, 1878 | at the residence of H J Wright | Homicide | |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
George Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Jno. C Swearingin | April 24, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Jane Glover | January 12, 1883 | at Handy Tanks House on John Wir[?] plantation | Unknown | ||
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Ana May Blocker | child | December 2, 1894 | at Ben Boatwrights farm | Natural Causes |