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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Henry Padget | freedman | November 14, 1866 | at Wm Padgets premises on Clouds Creek | Homicide | |
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
Kenneth Martor[?] | January 15, 1852 | at Thomas Samar's[?] Mills on horse creek | Accident | ||
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Peyton Bird | colored | September 29, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Infant Boy Child Colored | Infant Boy Child Colored | February 15, 1883 | at the residence of Charles Coleman | Unknown | |
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident | ||
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
Lesthia Ridlehouse[Ridlehover?] | January 5, 1892 | at the Residence of Mrs Edny Mary | Accident | ||
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Robert Johnston | May 23, 1891 | at Clarks Ferry below bridge on C. & G.[?] R R | Accident | ||
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1858 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Thomas Rosseter[?] | August 30, 1852 | at Hamburg SC | Accident | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
William Samuel | April 26, 1891 | at Scima[?] Hill Church | Homicide | ||
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
Isaac Grimer | December 10, 1868 | at Jacobs Branch on the Spaun Church road | Accident | ||
Willie Toney | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Edward Johnston | December 26, 1892 | at William Bushes | Unknown | ||
John M. Tillman | May 6, 1860 | at Mr J.A Tillmans Steam Mill | Homicide | ||
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown |