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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Ora Weaver | February 21, 1891 | at the plantation of D B. H Holfarth[illegible - ink blot] | Accident | ||
Infant | Infant | December 18, 1894 | at the Rinheart Grave yard | Unknown | |
Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill | Accident | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Lucious Perry | November 8, 1891 | at the plantation of Ben Boatwright | Homicide | ||
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 | ||
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
Charity Johnson | March 11, 1847 | at the Residence of Charity Johnson, late deceased | Natural Causes | ||
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Patrick Burns[?] | November 4, 1858 | at the residence of Richard Campbell | Natural Causes | ||
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident | ||
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Lucius Walker | October 5, 1869 | at James Doziers plantation | Accident | ||
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
Doublin | male slave, boy | April 5, 1857 | at the Residence of Mrs Delila Philips | Natural Causes | |
Wilson Griffin | freedman | February 13, 1867 | at Luke Rodgers | Homicide | |
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill | Accident | ||
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Bettie Willis | March 24, 1892 | at the Croker place the home of Miss Bettie Willis | Natural Causes | ||
Lovina | negroe girl, a slave | September 4, 1860 | at Doct H M Folks[Faulk?] | Suicide | |
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Sarah Scurry | September 28, 1844 | at the House of Sarah Scurry | Suicide | ||
Kenneth Martor[?] | January 15, 1852 | at Thomas Samar's[?] Mills on horse creek | Accident | ||
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
Wade Barronton | October 8, 1860 | at Wade Barrontons Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Peyton Bird | colored | September 29, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Natural Causes | |
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident |