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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
Bob | negro | September 23, 1864 | in the District | Natural Causes | |
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Sarah Scurry | September 28, 1844 | at the House of Sarah Scurry | Suicide | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Wade Barronton | October 8, 1860 | at Wade Barrontons Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Willie Toney | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Edward Johnston | December 26, 1892 | at William Bushes | Unknown | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Lesthia Ridlehouse[Ridlehover?] | January 5, 1892 | at the Residence of Mrs Edny Mary | Accident | ||
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
William Samuel | April 26, 1891 | at Scima[?] Hill Church | Homicide | ||
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident |