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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Joseph Moore Jr. | April 19, 1846 | at the house of Dr John D. Nicholson | Natural Causes | ||
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Charles | negro man | February 27, 1850 | at Scotts Shoals on Savannah River | Accident | |
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Matt Loyd | February 24, 1891 | at Mr. Carmal cemetary near the Old Wills | Natural Causes | ||
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Sallie Busch | August 21, 1892 | at Lewis Beans plantation | Natural Causes |