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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mary | female Slave | January 13, 1853 | at Isaac Bowles[?] | Accident | |
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Joseph W. Glover | September 2, 1844 | at Charles Comptys[?] Hotel | Homicide | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
John J. Cobb | July 23, 1843 | at William Elkins Mill Pond | Suicide | ||
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident | ||
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Violet | negro woman (slave) | March 25, 1844 | at John Dinkinses | Suicide | |
Tandy Holmes | September 21, 1894 | at or on Dr. W.C. Prescotts Plantation | Homicide | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide |