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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide | ||
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Wade Medlock | July 12, 1894 | at Benjamin Boatwrights Plantation | Unknown | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
Richard Stevens | February 21, 1898 | at Johnston S.C. | Natural Causes | ||
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
Jack Taylor | April 11, 1892 | at the house of Hal[?] Miles | Natural Causes | ||
John McManas | December 4, 1883 | at the Jail | Accident | ||
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Lawrence Frazier | child | January 14, 1895 | at D.B. Holingsworths | Accident | |
John G. Riddle | July 3, 1860 | at the residence of Mr Richard Burton | Natural Causes | ||
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Hartwell Roper | June 17, 1869 | at the residence of Rev. J.P. Mealing | Natural Causes | ||
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Levi S. Mathews | July 13, 1892 | at G. C. Wheerles[?] Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill | Accident | ||
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
infant | infant | May 5, 1893 | at F. L. Foys | Natural Causes | |
Isham Glover | August 9, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Richard Mims | August 1, 1899 | at the plantation of Mrs. H. Carter | Accident | ||
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
J. F. Styron | April 21, 1891 | at residence of J. F. Styron[?] | Accident | ||
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Violet | negro woman (slave) | March 25, 1844 | at John Dinkinses | Suicide | |
Hurnon[?] | April 4, 1862 | at Doct H R Cooks Plantation on Savanah River | Unknown | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Solomon Ellenberg | February 18, 1859 | near the Residence of G.M. Ouzts[?] | Suicide | ||
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation | Accident | ||
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident | ||
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Ana May Blocker | child | December 2, 1894 | at Ben Boatwrights farm | Natural Causes | |
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide |