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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Everett Hook | July 18, 1891 | at the saw Mill of M J Hook | Accident | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Mary Bright Hanpt[?] | October 6, 1881 | at Bright Hanpt[?] | Unknown | ||
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
Joseph Moore Jr. | April 19, 1846 | at the house of Dr John D. Nicholson | Natural Causes | ||
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
B. J. Mims | January 20, 1885 | at the Residence of Capt B J Mims | Natural Causes | ||
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Mahlon Jones | December 25, 1891 | at Landrams Farm | Homicide | ||
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
James Edward Settle | boy | March 9, 1884 | on Henry Hill Plantation | Accident | |
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident |