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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Edmond Price | April 30, 1892 | at Kennys Graveyard | Unknown | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Sarah Lucas | October 30, 1890 | at Mr. M L Holson | Accident | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
John McManas | December 4, 1883 | at the Jail | Accident | ||
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Solomon | negro man | June 24, 1844 | near the Mill of George A. McKee on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Rebeca Eidson | May 29, 1861 | at the Residence of William Eidson | Natural Causes | ||
John G. Riddle | July 3, 1860 | at the residence of Mr Richard Burton | Natural Causes | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident | ||
Patrick Burns[?] | November 4, 1858 | at the residence of Richard Campbell | Natural Causes | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Bettie Willis | March 24, 1892 | at the Croker place the home of Miss Bettie Willis | Natural Causes | ||
Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill | Accident | ||
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill | Accident | ||
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Lucious Perry | November 8, 1891 | at the plantation of Ben Boatwright | Homicide | ||
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Lucius Walker | October 5, 1869 | at James Doziers plantation | Accident | ||
Infant | Infant | December 18, 1894 | at the Rinheart Grave yard | Unknown | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Kisiah Frazier | December 17, 1893 | at the plantation of T S Rainsforde | Natural Causes | ||
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
Doublin | male slave, boy | April 5, 1857 | at the Residence of Mrs Delila Philips | Natural Causes | |
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
George W. Medlock | January 1, 1848 | at the house of Daniel Abby | Natural Causes | ||
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident |