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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
Dudley Roundtree | August 10, 1856 | at the dwelling house of the late Dudley Roundtree | Natural Causes | ||
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
Cooper | slave | March 17, 1852 | at the plantation of L.H. Mundy decd | Natural Causes | |
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
B. J. Mims | January 20, 1885 | at the Residence of Capt B J Mims | Natural Causes | ||
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
Mahlon Jones | December 25, 1891 | at Landrams Farm | Homicide | ||
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
Al White | October 12, 1898 | at Mundy[?] Place | Homicide |