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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Henry Burt | June 21, 1895 | at Henry Burts | Homicide | knife | |
Wilson Griffin | freedman | February 13, 1867 | at Luke Rodgers | Homicide | |
James Reynolds | December 20, 1860 | at the residence of James Reynolds | Homicide | ||
Dave Parkman | December 16, 1897 | at Cheatham place | Homicide | pistol | |
Julia Van | June 20, 1892 | at the plantation of Mr Joe Thurmond | Homicide | ||
William Martin | May 24, 1891 | on the premises of W. E. Friday | Homicide | pistol | |
James Bledsoe | May 15, 1893 | at Dr D.P. Lalsrones[?] Residence | Homicide | pistol | |
Matilda H. Posey | February 26, 1849 | at the house of Martin Posey | Homicide | stick | |
Jno. C Swearingin | April 24, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Namro | negro man | August 11, 1844 | at the house of Rob King Esqr | Homicide | club or stick |
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
Harry | slave | May 20, 1863 | at Jesse Gomellions | Homicide | knife |
Willis Asbell | December 7, 1877 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | ||
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
Lucious Perry | November 8, 1891 | at the plantation of Ben Boatwright | Homicide | ||
Allen Holmes | March 4, 1882 | at Oscar Seigler Residence | Homicide | ||
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Alfred Hollingsworth | October 10, 1898 | at David Strothers place | Homicide | razor | |
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | December 14, 1877 | at Dr. K N Hudsons plantation | Homicide | |
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
Bill King | August 9, 1881 | at H C Kings Residence | Homicide | hoe | |
John Webb | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Lewis | negro man, boy | March 14, 1861 | at Charles Hammonds Brickyard | Homicide | pistol |
Tandy Holmes | September 21, 1894 | at or on Dr. W.C. Prescotts Plantation | Homicide | ||
Teague Tillman | October 2, 1899 | at the plantation of Thos. H. Ramsford | Homicide | pistol | |
Isaac Matthias Jones | October 14, 1858 | at the house of Lewis Jones (Sr) at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | knife | |
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Louisa Laudon | October 11, 1869 | at Dorns Steam Mills near Rocky Creek | Homicide | knife | |
Ben Lowman | September 14, 1894 | at W.[?] L. Rawls Mills | Homicide | pistol | |
Augustus W. Burt | March 25, 1847 | at the Plantation of A.W. Burt | Homicide | axe | |
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
J. D. Ouzts | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield | Homicide | pistol | |
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Charles Cobb | March 13, 1893 | at or near Johnston | Homicide | umbrella | |
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Prince | slave | January 15, 1865 | at John Seiglers | Homicide | knife |
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
Michael Long | April 17, 1849 | at the house of Michael Long | Homicide | shotgun |