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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
Joseph Moore Jr. | April 19, 1846 | at the house of Dr John D. Nicholson | Natural Causes | ||
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
infant Boy | infant Boy | October 29, 1894 | at [?] Coleman | Natural Causes | |
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Mid[?] Griffin | February 2, 1895 | at the Govelace[?] Place | Natural Causes | ||
Rose | negro woman Slave | March 14, 1846 | at Michael Longs | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
infant | infant | January 22, 1894 | at Oak Gilchrist House | Natural Causes | |
Rose | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident | ||
Julia Banks | September 4, 1891 | at Mr Banks Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
R. Mackgrath | January 5, 1852 | at the house of John Dobey | Other | ||
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
John Webb | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Warren Kirkland | November 16, 1858 | at Benjamin Bartons | Homicide | ||
B. J. Mims | January 20, 1885 | at the Residence of Capt B J Mims | Natural Causes | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Henry Jennings | September 14, 1891 | at the residense of diceased | Natural Causes | ||
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
James Perry | December 27, 1894 | at Mt Enon Church | Accident | ||
John Brown | December 20, 1844 | at the house of John Brown | Natural Causes | ||
James Edward Settle | boy | March 9, 1884 | on Henry Hill Plantation | Accident | |
Isham Glover | August 9, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide |