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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
B. C. Bryan | March 16, 1884 | at B C Bryan Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
Ana May Blocker | child | December 2, 1894 | at Ben Boatwrights farm | Natural Causes | |
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Emaline Jackson | August 27, 1894 | at Dr Childs Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
infant Boy | infant Boy | October 29, 1894 | at [?] Coleman | Natural Causes | |
Kizziah[?] | slave, servant | March 11, 1860 | at the residence of Mr M Lanham | Natural Causes | |
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
infant | infant | January 22, 1894 | at Oak Gilchrist House | Natural Causes | |
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Lidda Hampton | November 24, 1893 | at A Derrecks | Natural Causes | ||
Mid[?] Griffin | February 2, 1895 | at the Govelace[?] Place | Natural Causes | ||
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Prophet Burt | freedman | December 29, 1866 | at E.N. Troys | Homicide | knife |
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
Samuel Posey | October 21, 1860 | at P. B. McDaniels | Homicide | pistol | |
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
John Webb | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Bill King | August 9, 1881 | at H C Kings Residence | Homicide | hoe | |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
Randal | negro man | May 9, 1844 | at Grancis Bettis's plantation on Horns Creek | Homicide | cow skin |
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Jesse Weatherford | September 4, 1849 | at the plantation of Mrs R Blaylock | Homicide | shotgun | |
Harry Anderson | December 16, 1882 | at Clinton Ward | Homicide | pistol | |
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Lewis | negro man, boy | March 14, 1861 | at Charles Hammonds Brickyard | Homicide | pistol |
Eugene McCarty | May 11, 1861 | at Edgefield Court house | Homicide | pistol | |
Teague Tillman | October 2, 1899 | at the plantation of Thos. H. Ramsford | Homicide | pistol | |
Daniel | slave, boy | May 27, 1862 | at John H. Fair | Homicide | shotgun |
Mary Randall | October 19, 1857 | at the Residence of John Randall | Homicide | razor | |
Louisa Laudon | October 11, 1869 | at Dorns Steam Mills near Rocky Creek | Homicide | knife | |
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Charles Cobb | March 13, 1893 | at or near Johnston | Homicide | umbrella | |
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Michael Long | April 17, 1849 | at the house of Michael Long | Homicide | shotgun | |
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
James Ramsey | December 12, 1869 | at the residence of Andrew Ramsay Sr | Homicide | pistol | |
Lewis Moore | November 30, 1891 | at the plantation of Robert Smith | Homicide | pocket knife |