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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Henry Goodman | May 4, 1851 | at or near to William H Adams on little horse Creek | Accident | ||
Joseph W. Glover | September 2, 1844 | at Charles Comptys[?] Hotel | Homicide | ||
Daniel | slave, boy | April 28, 1859 | at L. Halls Tisery[?] | Suicide | |
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
Milledge Denny | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | September 15, 1861 | at the residence of Mrs Margret Willis | Accident | |
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
A. P. Shultz | January 9, 1850 | at or near Solomon Clickleys[?] | Unknown | ||
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
John J. Cobb | July 23, 1843 | at William Elkins Mill Pond | Suicide | ||
Mary | Slave | May 17, 1847 | at the Plantation of A. Perrin | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
infant male child | infant male child | January 3, 1894 | in Edgefield County | Natural Causes | |
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
Tom | negro slave | December 18, 1858 | at Chlo Watsons | Homicide | |
Harry | negro boy | September 9, 1858 | at the residence of the Rev. J. L. Brooks | Accident | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Simon C. Wood[?] | December 26, 1857 | at Wm Calelaziers[?] | Natural Causes | ||
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
Nancy Weaver | December 20, 1893 | at Edgefield Court House | Accident | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
white man | white man | October 21, 1849 | in the woods near Holsonbakers[?] old fields | Natural Causes | |
Mahlon Jones | December 25, 1891 | at Landrams Farm | Homicide | ||
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident |