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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Allen Bauknight | freedman | June 11, 1866 | at William Bauknights | Accident | |
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident | |
Wily Royal | January 7, 1895 | at J.S. Hancocks | Accident | pistol | |
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Cap Bryan | February 25, 1893 | at the plantation of Mrs Doziers | Accident | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
John Seigler | February 13, 1856 | at J.H. Christians | Accident | buggy | |
Richard | negro boy Slave | September 9, 1850 | at Thomas Garretts | Accident | machinery |
Isah Zimmerman | December 26, 1881 | at the Residence of W F Ste[?]eies | Accident | pistol | |
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Henry Peterson | June 13, 1893 | at Ridge Spring | Accident | train | |
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
James Blocker | May 6, 1897 | Accident | train | ||
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Andrew | negro man | October 6, 1855 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | train |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Uriah Koon | October 16, 1847 | at the house of Col John Hunt | Accident | wagon | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
Steve Yeldell | October 28, 1894 | at Edgefield | Accident | cart | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Balus Harrison | November 14, 1893 | at Edgefield CH | Accident | cart | |
Joseph Jay | October 4, 1860 | at Joseph Jays | Accident | horse | |
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
George Delaughter | April 30, 1861 | at the Hamburg Passenger Depot | Accident | train | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Lidia Watson | January 26, 1894 | at J E Macks | Accident | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Fannie Patton | November 18, 1898 | at Francis Williams house | Accident | ||
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Edward Horton | August 7, 1879 | near Wesley Barrs[?] | Accident | sunstroke | |
Ben Culbreath | July 24, 1895 | at Jno A Corleys plantation | Accident | horse | |
James Perry | December 27, 1894 | at Mt Enon Church | Accident | ||
Sherod Holms | October 10, 1884 | at Sherod Holms House | Accident | horse | |
Mary Blocker | December 6, 1894 | at R H Parks | Accident | strychnine | |
Charles | negro man | February 27, 1850 | at Scotts Shoals on Savannah River | Accident | |
William Lundy | August 28, 1846 | at house of John Rainsford | Accident | ||
Louisa | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident |