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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Patrick Burns[?] | November 4, 1858 | at the residence of Richard Campbell | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill | Accident | ||
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident | ||
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Infant | Infant | December 18, 1894 | at the Rinheart Grave yard | Unknown | |
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill | Accident | ||
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Kisiah Frazier | December 17, 1893 | at the plantation of T S Rainsforde | Natural Causes | ||
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Lucius Walker | October 5, 1869 | at James Doziers plantation | Accident | ||
Peyton Bird | colored | September 29, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Natural Causes | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident | ||
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Kenneth Martor[?] | January 15, 1852 | at Thomas Samar's[?] Mills on horse creek | Accident | ||
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide |