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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Learma Butler | November 7, 1890 | at W.H. Folks plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Isham Glover | August 10, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
George Robinson | January 12, 1892 | at the plantation of E. B. Davis | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | January 18, 1892 | at the Plantation of L. G. Swearinger | Accident | |
Rose | negro woman Slave | March 14, 1846 | at Michael Longs | Homicide | |
Thomas Rosseter[?] | August 30, 1852 | at Hamburg SC | Accident | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Rose | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
W. T. Mathis | November 11, 1897 | at the Yeldell place | Natural Causes | ||
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Robert | slave, boy | April 8, 1847 | at Edward Hampton's | Suicide | |
Isaac Grimer | December 10, 1868 | at Jacobs Branch on the Spaun Church road | Accident | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Sallie Young | December 8, 1890 | at Mr A. F Broadwaters Plantation | Accident | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | November 17, 1891 | at Mr M Toneys place | Unknown | |
Robert Johnston | May 23, 1891 | at Clarks Ferry below bridge on C. & G.[?] R R | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Sarah Lucas | October 30, 1890 | at Mr. M L Holson | Accident | ||
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Harry | negro boy | September 9, 1858 | at the residence of the Rev. J. L. Brooks | Accident | |
Solomon | negro man | June 24, 1844 | near the Mill of George A. McKee on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Nancy Weaver | December 20, 1893 | at Edgefield Court House | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide |