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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Nancy Weaver | December 20, 1893 | at Edgefield Court House | Accident | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown | |
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
James Leppard | February 13, 1893 | at F. M. Leppards | Natural Causes | ||
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
Solomon Ellenberg | February 18, 1859 | near the Residence of G.M. Ouzts[?] | Suicide | ||
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
Joseph Riddle | April 10, 1856 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Ras | slave | December 6, 1850 | at D Dennys Mill | Suicide | |
Isham Glover | August 9, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Violet | negro woman (slave) | March 25, 1844 | at John Dinkinses | Suicide | |
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Curry | slave | March 17, 1856 | at Mrs Elizabeth Middletons Plantation | Accident | |
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Learma Butler | November 7, 1890 | at W.H. Folks plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
Isham Glover | August 10, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Henry Padget | freedman | November 14, 1866 | at Wm Padgets premises on Clouds Creek | Homicide |