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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Joe | infant negro | August 26, 1860 | at John Huiets | Accident | |
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
white man | white man | October 21, 1849 | in the woods near Holsonbakers[?] old fields | Natural Causes | |
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
John McManas | December 4, 1883 | at the Jail | Accident | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
John G. Riddle | July 3, 1860 | at the residence of Mr Richard Burton | Natural Causes | ||
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro slave | December 18, 1858 | at Chlo Watsons | Homicide | |
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
Jim | slave | June 10, 1859 | at M, L, Bonham Esqr residence on the Pine House road | Natural Causes | |
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Wilson Griffin | freedman | February 13, 1867 | at Luke Rodgers | Homicide | |
Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill | Accident | ||
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Lovina | negroe girl, a slave | September 4, 1860 | at Doct H M Folks[Faulk?] | Suicide | |
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Isham Glover | August 9, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Charity Johnson | March 11, 1847 | at the Residence of Charity Johnson, late deceased | Natural Causes | ||
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Violet | negro woman (slave) | March 25, 1844 | at John Dinkinses | Suicide | |
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Solomon Ellenberg | February 18, 1859 | near the Residence of G.M. Ouzts[?] | Suicide | ||
George Hatcher | freedman | June 19, 1867 | at B. W. Hatchers Mill on Shaws creek | Natural Causes | |
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Learma Butler | November 7, 1890 | at W.H. Folks plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide |