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 Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Steve Yeldell | October 28, 1894 | at Edgefield | Accident | cart | |
Kenneth Martor[?] | January 15, 1852 | at Thomas Samar's[?] Mills on horse creek | Accident | ||
Uriah Koon | October 16, 1847 | at the house of Col John Hunt | Accident | wagon | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident | ||
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Robert Johnston | May 23, 1891 | at Clarks Ferry below bridge on C. & G.[?] R R | Accident | ||
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
Edward Horton | August 7, 1879 | near Wesley Barrs[?] | Accident | sunstroke | |
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
Thomas Rosseter[?] | August 30, 1852 | at Hamburg SC | Accident | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Isaac Grimer | December 10, 1868 | at Jacobs Branch on the Spaun Church road | Accident | ||
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Wallace Halloway | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield Court house | Accident | train | |
Hampton Weaver | colored | July 17, 1869 | at the house of and on the farm of James T Outz | Accident | shotgun |
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
Mary Blocker | December 6, 1894 | at R H Parks | Accident | strychnine | |
Charles | negro man | February 27, 1850 | at Scotts Shoals on Savannah River | Accident | |
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Sherod Holms | October 10, 1884 | at Sherod Holms House | Accident | horse | |
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Sam | negro man | October 19, 1856 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road between the Paper Mill and Marsh's | Accident | train |
William Lundy | August 28, 1846 | at house of John Rainsford | Accident | ||
George Bowers | May 26, 1891 | at Kenards bend | Accident | mule | |
Mike | negro man | September 13, 1844 | at Dr John D. Nicholsons Mill | Accident | |
Louisa | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Simon | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Enoch Douglass | August 11, 1879 | near Wesly Barrs on the rail road | Accident | ||
Gertrude | infant child | December 1, 1891 | at Edgfield Court house | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | September 15, 1861 | at the residence of Mrs Margret Willis | Accident | |
Alick Croker | boy | September 29, 1878 | at Mrs. Marshes premises | Accident | |
Unknown | October 10, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | train | |
Ryal | Negro Slave | July 28, 1851 | at Mr Thos McKies Batteau landing on Big Stephen's Creek | Accident |