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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Solomon | negro man | June 24, 1844 | near the Mill of George A. McKee on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Ora Weaver | February 21, 1891 | at the plantation of D B. H Holfarth[illegible - ink blot] | Accident | ||
Sarah Lucas | October 30, 1890 | at Mr. M L Holson | Accident | ||
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
John McManas | December 4, 1883 | at the Jail | Accident | ||
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
James Blocker | May 6, 1897 | Accident | train | ||
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill | Accident | ||
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
Billy | November 28, 1857 | at the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | wagon | |
Fannie Ford | March 5, 1893 | at Trenton S.C. | Accident | train | |
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Balus Harrison | November 14, 1893 | at Edgefield CH | Accident | cart | |
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
William Humphry | January 4, 1894 | at Etheridge Bridge | Accident | pocket knife | |
George Delaughter | April 30, 1861 | at the Hamburg Passenger Depot | Accident | train | |
Isaac | negro man | December 1, 1856 | at a point on the South Carolina Rail Road [?] Brooks Mill creek | Accident | train |
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
Fannie Patton | November 18, 1898 | at Francis Williams house | Accident | ||
Ben Culbreath | July 24, 1895 | at Jno A Corleys plantation | Accident | horse | |
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Allen Bauknight | freedman | June 11, 1866 | at William Bauknights | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
James Perry | December 27, 1894 | at Mt Enon Church | Accident | ||
Louisa Wooden | October 13, 1893 | at Mose Woden | Accident | ||
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
Lidia Watson | January 26, 1894 | at J E Macks | Accident | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
John Seigler | February 13, 1856 | at J.H. Christians | Accident | buggy | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident |