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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kizziah[?] | slave, servant | March 11, 1860 | at the residence of Mr M Lanham | Natural Causes | |
Ras | slave | December 6, 1850 | at D Dennys Mill | Suicide | |
Presley Wise | July 11, 1891 | at D W. Padgetts plantation | Homicide | ||
Lovina | negroe girl, a slave | September 4, 1860 | at Doct H M Folks[Faulk?] | Suicide | |
Allen Holmes | March 4, 1882 | at Oscar Seigler Residence | Homicide | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Al White | October 12, 1898 | at Mundy[?] Place | Homicide | ||
Eddie Watson | Infant | April 25, 1892 | at Bob Stevens | Natural Causes | |
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Charity Johnson | March 11, 1847 | at the Residence of Charity Johnson, late deceased | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | December 14, 1877 | at Dr. K N Hudsons plantation | Homicide | |
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Joseph Riddle | April 10, 1856 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Sarah Scurry | September 28, 1844 | at the House of Sarah Scurry | Suicide | ||
Infant Boy Child Colored | Infant Boy Child Colored | February 15, 1883 | at the residence of Charles Coleman | Unknown | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide |