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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Peter | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Betsey | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Louisa | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Simon | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident | |
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
J. Hancock | June 13, 1859 | at J. Hancocks | Suicide | shotgun | |
Jim | slave | June 10, 1859 | at M, L, Bonham Esqr residence on the Pine House road | Natural Causes | |
Daniel | slave, boy | April 28, 1859 | at L. Halls Tisery[?] | Suicide | |
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Darling Willis | March 4, 1859 | at Wade Holeston warter | Suicide | pistol | |
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Solomon Ellenberg | February 18, 1859 | near the Residence of G.M. Ouzts[?] | Suicide | ||
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Harry | slave | December 25, 1858 | at Col Arthur Sinkins[?] | Homicide | knife |
Tom | negro slave | December 18, 1858 | at Chlo Watsons | Homicide | |
Warren Kirkland | November 16, 1858 | at Benjamin Bartons | Homicide | ||
Sarah Jowls[?] | November 16, 1858 | at Mrs Mary Ann Keys | Suicide | rope | |
Patrick Burns[?] | November 4, 1858 | at the residence of Richard Campbell | Natural Causes | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1858 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Isaac Matthias Jones | October 14, 1858 | at the house of Lewis Jones (Sr) at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | knife | |
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Harry | negro boy | September 9, 1858 | at the residence of the Rev. J. L. Brooks | Accident | |
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Henry | male slave | July 15, 1858 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | hickory stick |
Wesley Weaver[?] | June 15, 1858 | at Mrs Lydia Nevus[?] | Suicide | shotgun | |
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
Simon C. Wood[?] | December 26, 1857 | at Wm Calelaziers[?] | Natural Causes | ||
Billy | November 28, 1857 | at the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | wagon | |
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
John Randall | October 19, 1857 | at the dwelling house of John Randall | Suicide | razor | |
Mary Randall | October 19, 1857 | at the Residence of John Randall | Homicide | razor | |
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Doublin | male slave, boy | April 5, 1857 | at the Residence of Mrs Delila Philips | Natural Causes | |
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Isaac | negro man | December 1, 1856 | at a point on the South Carolina Rail Road [?] Brooks Mill creek | Accident | train |
Sam | negro man | October 19, 1856 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road between the Paper Mill and Marsh's | Accident | train |
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Dudley Roundtree | August 10, 1856 | at the dwelling house of the late Dudley Roundtree | Natural Causes | ||
J. H. Christian | July 21, 1856 | in the village of Edgefield in Room No 11, in B. J. Ryans Hotel | Homicide | pistol |