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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
Charley Geeter | October 27, 1881 | at Violets Geeter's house | Accident | ||
B. C. Bryan | March 16, 1884 | at B C Bryan Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Hartwell Roper | June 17, 1869 | at the residence of Rev. J.P. Mealing | Natural Causes | ||
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Wade Medlock | July 12, 1894 | at Benjamin Boatwrights Plantation | Unknown | ||
Isaac Oliphant | November 9, 1882 | at Ritch Thomson | Accident | ||
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Richard Stevens | February 21, 1898 | at Johnston S.C. | Natural Causes | ||
infant male child | infant male child | January 3, 1894 | in Edgefield County | Natural Causes | |
Lizzy Rardon | September 28, 1879 | at Clansey Holloways plantation | Accident | ||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
James Reynolds | December 20, 1860 | at the residence of James Reynolds | Homicide | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
Harry | negro boy | September 9, 1858 | at the residence of the Rev. J. L. Brooks | Accident | |
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
Nancy Weaver | December 20, 1893 | at Edgefield Court House | Accident | ||
Allen Holmes | March 4, 1882 | at Oscar Seigler Residence | Homicide | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Ras | slave | December 6, 1850 | at D Dennys Mill | Suicide | |
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | May 5, 1893 | at F. L. Foys | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | December 14, 1877 | at Dr. K N Hudsons plantation | Homicide | |
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Willis Asbell | December 7, 1877 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Hurnon[?] | April 4, 1862 | at Doct H R Cooks Plantation on Savanah River | Unknown | ||
Kizziah[?] | slave, servant | March 11, 1860 | at the residence of Mr M Lanham | Natural Causes | |
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes |