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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
James Leppard | February 13, 1893 | at F. M. Leppards | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Rebeca Eidson | May 29, 1861 | at the Residence of William Eidson | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Ora Weaver | February 21, 1891 | at the plantation of D B. H Holfarth[illegible - ink blot] | Accident | ||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
John McManas | December 4, 1883 | at the Jail | Accident | ||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Lucious Perry | November 8, 1891 | at the plantation of Ben Boatwright | Homicide | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident | ||
Joseph Riddle | April 10, 1856 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill | Accident | ||
Doublin | male slave, boy | April 5, 1857 | at the Residence of Mrs Delila Philips | Natural Causes | |
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
Ras | slave | December 6, 1850 | at D Dennys Mill | Suicide | |
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
Bettie Willis | March 24, 1892 | at the Croker place the home of Miss Bettie Willis | Natural Causes | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Wade Barronton | October 8, 1860 | at Wade Barrontons Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide |