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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jane Glover | January 12, 1883 | at Handy Tanks House on John Wir[?] plantation | Unknown | ||
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
William Lundy | August 28, 1846 | at house of John Rainsford | Accident | ||
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Charly Washington | boy | November 22, 1891 | at the house of George Washington near Bauknights ferry | Accident | |
Peyton Bird | colored | September 29, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Natural Causes | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Daniel | slave, boy | April 28, 1859 | at L. Halls Tisery[?] | Suicide | |
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident | ||
Lindy Jones | March 15, 1882 | at George Holingsworth House | Accident | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Pompy Robinson | November 1, 1898 | at Norris Place | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | August 5, 1878 | at the residence of H J Wright | Homicide | |
Clara Bell | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
George Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
Thomas Rosseter[?] | August 30, 1852 | at Hamburg SC | Accident | ||
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Charley Geeter | October 27, 1881 | at Violets Geeter's house | Accident | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
A. P. Shultz | January 9, 1850 | at or near Solomon Clickleys[?] | Unknown | ||
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Mary | Slave | May 17, 1847 | at the Plantation of A. Perrin | Homicide | |
Isaac Grimer | December 10, 1868 | at Jacobs Branch on the Spaun Church road | Accident | ||
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
Lizzie Greeg | July 4, 1884 | at Capt Taliar[?] Hearin[?] | Natural Causes | ||
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Adam Barker | August 10, 1879 | at the Residence of Adam Barker Decd | Suicide | ||
Milledge Denny | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Robert Johnston | May 23, 1891 | at Clarks Ferry below bridge on C. & G.[?] R R | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | September 15, 1861 | at the residence of Mrs Margret Willis | Accident | |
B. C. Bryan | March 16, 1884 | at B C Bryan Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Sallie Busch | August 21, 1892 | at Lewis Beans plantation | Natural Causes |