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![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
white man | white man | October 21, 1849 | in the woods near Holsonbakers[?] old fields | Natural Causes | |
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Julia Banks | September 4, 1891 | at Mr Banks Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
Patrick Burns[?] | November 4, 1858 | at the residence of Richard Campbell | Natural Causes | ||
Fannie Patton | November 18, 1898 | at Francis Williams house | Accident | ||
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Lucius Walker | October 5, 1869 | at James Doziers plantation | Accident | ||
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Reubin Weaver | December 28, 1895 | at Elijah Boatwrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Wilson Griffin | freedman | February 13, 1867 | at Luke Rodgers | Homicide | |
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
Lovina | negroe girl, a slave | September 4, 1860 | at Doct H M Folks[Faulk?] | Suicide | |
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Lidia Watson | January 26, 1894 | at J E Macks | Accident | ||
Infant | Infant | December 18, 1894 | at the Rinheart Grave yard | Unknown | |
Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill | Accident | ||
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Kisiah Frazier | December 17, 1893 | at the plantation of T S Rainsforde | Natural Causes | ||
James Perry | December 27, 1894 | at Mt Enon Church | Accident | ||
Charity Johnson | March 11, 1847 | at the Residence of Charity Johnson, late deceased | Natural Causes | ||
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
Wade Barronton | October 8, 1860 | at Wade Barrontons Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Pompy Robinson | November 1, 1898 | at Norris Place | Natural Causes | ||
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Peyton Bird | colored | September 29, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Natural Causes | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Bob | negro | September 23, 1864 | in the District | Natural Causes | |
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide |