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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
infant child | infant child | August 5, 1878 | at the residence of H J Wright | Homicide | |
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
George Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Charly Washington | boy | November 22, 1891 | at the house of George Washington near Bauknights ferry | Accident | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Jane Glover | January 12, 1883 | at Handy Tanks House on John Wir[?] plantation | Unknown | ||
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Pompy Robinson | November 1, 1898 | at Norris Place | Natural Causes | ||
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Lindy Jones | March 15, 1882 | at George Holingsworth House | Accident | ||
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Adam Barker | August 10, 1879 | at the Residence of Adam Barker Decd | Suicide | ||
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Charley Geeter | October 27, 1881 | at Violets Geeter's house | Accident | ||
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Lizzie Greeg | July 4, 1884 | at Capt Taliar[?] Hearin[?] | Natural Causes | ||
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident |