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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Julia Van | June 20, 1892 | at the plantation of Mr Joe Thurmond | Homicide | ||
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
Jno. C Swearingin | April 24, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Ana May Blocker | child | December 2, 1894 | at Ben Boatwrights farm | Natural Causes | |
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Infant Boy Child Colored | Infant Boy Child Colored | February 15, 1883 | at the residence of Charles Coleman | Unknown | |
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
infant Boy | infant Boy | October 29, 1894 | at [?] Coleman | Natural Causes | |
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Mid[?] Griffin | February 2, 1895 | at the Govelace[?] Place | Natural Causes | ||
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
Rose | negro woman Slave | March 14, 1846 | at Michael Longs | Homicide | |
infant | infant | January 22, 1894 | at Oak Gilchrist House | Natural Causes | |
Rose | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
Emaline Jackson | August 27, 1894 | at Dr Childs Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Robert | slave, boy | April 8, 1847 | at Edward Hampton's | Suicide | |
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes |