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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Edmond Price | April 30, 1892 | at Kennys Graveyard | Unknown | ||
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
Sarah Lucas | October 30, 1890 | at Mr. M L Holson | Accident | ||
John G. Riddle | July 3, 1860 | at the residence of Mr Richard Burton | Natural Causes | ||
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
Solomon | negro man | June 24, 1844 | near the Mill of George A. McKee on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Doublin | male slave, boy | April 5, 1857 | at the Residence of Mrs Delila Philips | Natural Causes | |
Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill | Accident | ||
Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill | Accident | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Bettie Willis | March 24, 1892 | at the Croker place the home of Miss Bettie Willis | Natural Causes | ||
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Lucious Perry | November 8, 1891 | at the plantation of Ben Boatwright | Homicide | ||
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Lucius Walker | October 5, 1869 | at James Doziers plantation | Accident | ||
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident | ||
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident |