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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sarah Lucas | October 30, 1890 | at Mr. M L Holson | Accident | ||
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown | |
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Solomon | negro man | June 24, 1844 | near the Mill of George A. McKee on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide | ||
Levi S. Mathews | July 13, 1892 | at G. C. Wheerles[?] Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Doublin | male slave, boy | April 5, 1857 | at the Residence of Mrs Delila Philips | Natural Causes | |
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
John Brown | December 20, 1844 | at the house of John Brown | Natural Causes | ||
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
Richard Mims | August 1, 1899 | at the plantation of Mrs. H. Carter | Accident | ||
Bettie Willis | March 24, 1892 | at the Croker place the home of Miss Bettie Willis | Natural Causes | ||
J. F. Styron | April 21, 1891 | at residence of J. F. Styron[?] | Accident | ||
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Joseph Riddle | April 10, 1856 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Lucious Perry | November 8, 1891 | at the plantation of Ben Boatwright | Homicide | ||
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation | Accident | ||
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Ras | slave | December 6, 1850 | at D Dennys Mill | Suicide | |
Ana May Blocker | child | December 2, 1894 | at Ben Boatwrights farm | Natural Causes | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Daniel | slave, boy | April 28, 1859 | at L. Halls Tisery[?] | Suicide | |
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Wade Barronton | October 8, 1860 | at Wade Barrontons Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Julia Van | June 20, 1892 | at the plantation of Mr Joe Thurmond | Homicide | ||
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Clara Bell | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
Jno. C Swearingin | April 24, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Bob | negro | September 23, 1864 | in the District | Natural Causes | |
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
William Lundy | August 28, 1846 | at house of John Rainsford | Accident |