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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Isham Glover | August 10, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
George Robinson | January 12, 1892 | at the plantation of E. B. Davis | Natural Causes | ||
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Wade Barronton | October 8, 1860 | at Wade Barrontons Residence | Natural Causes | ||
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Curry | slave | March 17, 1856 | at Mrs Elizabeth Middletons Plantation | Accident | |
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Sallie Young | December 8, 1890 | at Mr A. F Broadwaters Plantation | Accident | ||
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | November 17, 1891 | at Mr M Toneys place | Unknown | |
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | January 18, 1892 | at the Plantation of L. G. Swearinger | Accident | |
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
W. T. Mathis | November 11, 1897 | at the Yeldell place | Natural Causes | ||
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Rebeca Eidson | May 29, 1861 | at the Residence of William Eidson | Natural Causes | ||
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
Ora Weaver | February 21, 1891 | at the plantation of D B. H Holfarth[illegible - ink blot] | Accident | ||
infant male child | infant male child | January 3, 1894 | in Edgefield County | Natural Causes | |
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
Edmond Price | April 30, 1892 | at Kennys Graveyard | Unknown | ||
Harry | negro boy | September 9, 1858 | at the residence of the Rev. J. L. Brooks | Accident | |
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide |