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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Lawrence Frazier | child | January 14, 1895 | at D.B. Holingsworths | Accident | |
Joe | infant negro | August 26, 1860 | at John Huiets | Accident | |
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown | |
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
John Brown | December 20, 1844 | at the house of John Brown | Natural Causes | ||
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
Levi S. Mathews | July 13, 1892 | at G. C. Wheerles[?] Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Richard Mims | August 1, 1899 | at the plantation of Mrs. H. Carter | Accident | ||
George Hatcher | freedman | June 19, 1867 | at B. W. Hatchers Mill on Shaws creek | Natural Causes | |
Joseph Riddle | April 10, 1856 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
J. F. Styron | April 21, 1891 | at residence of J. F. Styron[?] | Accident | ||
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Ras | slave | December 6, 1850 | at D Dennys Mill | Suicide | |
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation | Accident | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Daniel | slave, boy | April 28, 1859 | at L. Halls Tisery[?] | Suicide | |
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Ana May Blocker | child | December 2, 1894 | at Ben Boatwrights farm | Natural Causes | |
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Clara Bell | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Julia Van | June 20, 1892 | at the plantation of Mr Joe Thurmond | Homicide | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
William Lundy | August 28, 1846 | at house of John Rainsford | Accident | ||
Jno. C Swearingin | April 24, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | January 22, 1894 | at Oak Gilchrist House | Natural Causes |