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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Willie Toney | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Lidda Hampton | November 24, 1893 | at A Derrecks | Natural Causes | ||
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Edward Johnston | December 26, 1892 | at William Bushes | Unknown | ||
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident | ||
Lesthia Ridlehouse[Ridlehover?] | January 5, 1892 | at the Residence of Mrs Edny Mary | Accident | ||
Hardy Boulware | January 2, 1862 | at Hardy Boulwares | Homicide | ||
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
William Samuel | April 26, 1891 | at Scima[?] Hill Church | Homicide | ||
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
John G. Riddle | July 3, 1860 | at the residence of Mr Richard Burton | Natural Causes | ||
Lawrence Frazier | child | January 14, 1895 | at D.B. Holingsworths | Accident | |
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
John McManas | December 4, 1883 | at the Jail | Accident | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Jack Taylor | April 11, 1892 | at the house of Hal[?] Miles | Natural Causes | ||
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
Solomon Ellenberg | February 18, 1859 | near the Residence of G.M. Ouzts[?] | Suicide | ||
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident |