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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Bob | negro | September 23, 1864 | in the District | Natural Causes | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Wade Barronton | October 8, 1860 | at Wade Barrontons Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Matt Loyd | February 24, 1891 | at Mr. Carmal cemetary near the Old Wills | Natural Causes |