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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
John Brown | December 20, 1844 | at the house of John Brown | Natural Causes | ||
Eddie Watson | Infant | April 25, 1892 | at Bob Stevens | Natural Causes | |
Caroline Coleman | July 25, 1893 | at Brisel[?] Blacks Residence | Natural Causes | ||
George W. Medlock | January 1, 1848 | at the house of Daniel Abby | Natural Causes | ||
B. J. Mims | January 20, 1885 | at the Residence of Capt B J Mims | Natural Causes | ||
James Leppard | February 13, 1893 | at F. M. Leppards | Natural Causes | ||
Joseph Moore Jr. | April 19, 1846 | at the house of Dr John D. Nicholson | 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 | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Lewis Bartie | July 26, 1864 | at Mount Zion Church | Homicide | shotgun | |
Tom | negro slave | December 18, 1858 | at Chlo Watsons | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | August 5, 1878 | at the residence of H J Wright | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Jim | negro boy | July 23, 1855 | at Wade Holsteens | Homicide | knife |
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Scipio | slave | April 1, 1862 | at E. J. Youngbloods | Homicide | hatchet |
Allen Smith | Freedman | January 19, 1867 | at S.B. Chappells Residence | Homicide | pistol |
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 | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Harry Anderson | December 16, 1882 | at Clinton Ward | Homicide | pistol | |
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Eugene McCarty | May 11, 1861 | at Edgefield Court house | Homicide | pistol | |
Wilson Griffin | freedman | February 13, 1867 | at Luke Rodgers | Homicide | |
Mary Randall | October 19, 1857 | at the Residence of John Randall | Homicide | razor | |
Henry Mobley | December 11, 1899 | at Johnston | Homicide | pistol | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Matilda H. Posey | February 26, 1849 | at the house of Martin Posey | Homicide | stick | |
Johnson Peterson | March 9, 1892 | at Deny[?] S.C. | Homicide | pistol | |
Stephen Stalmaker | August 30, 1850 | at J.M.C. Freeland's | Homicide | plank | |
James Reynolds | December 20, 1860 | at the residence of James Reynolds | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
Hammond Frasier | November 6, 1897 | at Trenton S.C. | Homicide | pistol | |
Harry | slave | May 20, 1863 | at Jesse Gomellions | Homicide | knife |
Willis Asbell | December 7, 1877 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | ||
Willie Toney | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide |