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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
Henry Padget | freedman | November 14, 1866 | at Wm Padgets premises on Clouds Creek | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Rose | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1858 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Robert | slave, boy | April 8, 1847 | at Edward Hampton's | Suicide | |
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
John M. Tillman | May 6, 1860 | at Mr J.A Tillmans Steam Mill | Homicide | ||
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Rose | negro woman Slave | March 14, 1846 | at Michael Longs | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident |