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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident | ||
Everett Hook | July 18, 1891 | at the saw Mill of M J Hook | Accident | ||
Cap Bryan | February 25, 1893 | at the plantation of Mrs Doziers | Accident | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Amanda Glover | August 30, 1892 | at Mr Pofse[?] Lotts Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident | |
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | October 6, 1891 | at her Residence | Unknown | |
Kenneth Martor[?] | January 15, 1852 | at Thomas Samar's[?] Mills on horse creek | Accident | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Padget | freedman | November 14, 1866 | at Wm Padgets premises on Clouds Creek | Homicide | |
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Joseph W. Glover | September 2, 1844 | at Charles Comptys[?] Hotel | Homicide | ||
Peyton Bird | colored | September 29, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Natural Causes | |
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
Robert | slave, boy | April 8, 1847 | at Edward Hampton's | Suicide | |
Isaac Grimer | December 10, 1868 | at Jacobs Branch on the Spaun Church road | Accident | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Lidda Hampton | November 24, 1893 | at A Derrecks | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
John M. Tillman | May 6, 1860 | at Mr J.A Tillmans Steam Mill | Homicide | ||
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident | ||
Hardy Boulware | January 2, 1862 | at Hardy Boulwares | Homicide | ||
Robert Johnston | May 23, 1891 | at Clarks Ferry below bridge on C. & G.[?] R R | Accident | ||
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
Rose | negro woman Slave | March 14, 1846 | at Michael Longs | Homicide | |
Thomas Rosseter[?] | August 30, 1852 | at Hamburg SC | Accident | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1858 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Rose | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
R. Mackgrath | January 5, 1852 | at the house of John Dobey | Other | ||
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Warren Kirkland | November 16, 1858 | at Benjamin Bartons | Homicide | ||
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown |