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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill | Accident | ||
Louisa Wooden | October 13, 1893 | at Mose Woden | Accident | ||
Thomas Rosseter[?] | August 30, 1852 | at Hamburg SC | Accident | ||
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
Charley Geeter | October 27, 1881 | at Violets Geeter's house | Accident | ||
Isaac Grimer | December 10, 1868 | at Jacobs Branch on the Spaun Church road | Accident | ||
George Bowers | May 26, 1891 | at Kenards bend | Accident | mule | |
Isaac Oliphant | November 9, 1882 | at Ritch Thomson | Accident | ||
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Wallace Halloway | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield Court house | Accident | train | |
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident | |
Hampton Weaver | colored | July 17, 1869 | at the house of and on the farm of James T Outz | Accident | shotgun |
Peter | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Charles S. Harrison | November 25, 1878 | at E.C. House | Accident | pistol | |
Wily Royal | January 7, 1895 | at J.S. Hancocks | Accident | pistol | |
Lizzy Rardon | September 28, 1879 | at Clansey Holloways plantation | Accident | ||
Cap Bryan | February 25, 1893 | at the plantation of Mrs Doziers | Accident | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
John Seigler | February 13, 1856 | at J.H. Christians | Accident | buggy | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Betsey | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Henry Peterson | June 13, 1893 | at Ridge Spring | Accident | train | |
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Unknown | October 10, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | train | |
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
John Scott | May 10, 1851 | at Vaucluse[?] Factory | Accident | horse | |
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
Andrew | negro man | October 6, 1855 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | train |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Steve Yeldell | October 28, 1894 | at Edgefield | Accident | cart | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Ezekiel Thomas | February 4, 1879 | near Johnstons | Accident | train | |
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident |