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![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
Charity Johnson | March 11, 1847 | at the Residence of Charity Johnson, late deceased | Natural Causes | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | December 14, 1877 | at Dr. K N Hudsons plantation | Homicide | |
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Joseph Riddle | April 10, 1856 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Willis Asbell | December 7, 1877 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | ||
George Hatcher | freedman | June 19, 1867 | at B. W. Hatchers Mill on Shaws creek | Natural Causes | |
Wilson Griffin | freedman | February 13, 1867 | at Luke Rodgers | Homicide | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Kizziah[?] | slave, servant | March 11, 1860 | at the residence of Mr M Lanham | Natural Causes | |
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Ras | slave | December 6, 1850 | at D Dennys Mill | Suicide | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Sarah Scurry | September 28, 1844 | at the House of Sarah Scurry | Suicide | ||
Infant Boy Child Colored | Infant Boy Child Colored | February 15, 1883 | at the residence of Charles Coleman | Unknown | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
Lesthia Ridlehouse[Ridlehover?] | January 5, 1892 | at the Residence of Mrs Edny Mary | Accident | ||
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes |