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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
Mike | negro man | September 13, 1844 | at Dr John D. Nicholsons Mill | Accident | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Ryal | Negro Slave | July 28, 1851 | at Mr Thos McKies Batteau landing on Big Stephen's Creek | Accident | |
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill | Accident | ||
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
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 | |
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
Garett Doby | October 11, 1880 | at William Rufus | Natural Causes | ||
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | July 24, 1892 | at Promised Land School house | Unknown | |
Lucius Walker | October 5, 1869 | at James Doziers plantation | Accident | ||
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Gertrude | infant child | December 1, 1891 | at Edgfield Court house | Accident | |
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Prince | negro man | October 27, 1844 | at Mrs Elizabeth Timmermans | Suicide | |
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Everett Hook | July 18, 1891 | at the saw Mill of M J Hook | Accident | ||
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Kenneth Martor[?] | January 15, 1852 | at Thomas Samar's[?] Mills on horse creek | Accident | ||
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Amanda Glover | August 30, 1892 | at Mr Pofse[?] Lotts Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Peyton Bird | colored | September 29, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Natural Causes | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide |