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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
Isaac Oliphant | November 9, 1882 | at Ritch Thomson | Accident | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Dave | negro man Slave | March 16, 1849 | at Kilcrease's Ferry | Accident | boat |
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
George Bowers | May 26, 1891 | at Kenards bend | Accident | mule | |
Ransom Hollaway | May 14, 1862 | at Ransom Holaways | Accident | lightning | |
Willie Glover | July 26, 1892 | at Lark Glovers Plantation | Accident | mule | |
Peter | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Charles S. Harrison | November 25, 1878 | at E.C. House | Accident | pistol | |
Wallace Halloway | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield Court house | Accident | train | |
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Hampton Weaver | colored | July 17, 1869 | at the house of and on the farm of James T Outz | Accident | shotgun |
Lizzy Rardon | September 28, 1879 | at Clansey Holloways plantation | Accident | ||
Unknown | October 10, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | train | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
John Scott | May 10, 1851 | at Vaucluse[?] Factory | Accident | horse | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
Betsey | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Hugh Duffey Sr. | August 26, 1855 | at Bethany Church | Accident | horse | |
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
Curry | slave | March 17, 1856 | at Mrs Elizabeth Middletons Plantation | Accident | |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
Sallie Young | December 8, 1890 | at Mr A. F Broadwaters Plantation | Accident | ||
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
John Radford | April 12, 1860 | at the residence of John Radford | Accident | wagon | |
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | January 18, 1892 | at the Plantation of L. G. Swearinger | Accident | |
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Ezekiel Thomas | February 4, 1879 | near Johnstons | Accident | train | |
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident |