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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Charly Washington | boy | November 22, 1891 | at the house of George Washington near Bauknights ferry | Accident | |
Isham Glover | August 10, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
George Robinson | January 12, 1892 | at the plantation of E. B. Davis | Natural Causes | ||
Pompy Robinson | November 1, 1898 | at Norris Place | Natural Causes | ||
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Curry | slave | March 17, 1856 | at Mrs Elizabeth Middletons Plantation | Accident | |
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Learma Butler | November 7, 1890 | at W.H. Folks plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
George W. Medlock | January 1, 1848 | at the house of Daniel Abby | Natural Causes | ||
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Rose | negro woman Slave | March 14, 1846 | at Michael Longs | Homicide | |
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | November 17, 1891 | at Mr M Toneys place | Unknown | |
Rose | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | January 18, 1892 | at the Plantation of L. G. Swearinger | Accident | |
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Robert | slave, boy | April 8, 1847 | at Edward Hampton's | Suicide | |
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
W. T. Mathis | November 11, 1897 | at the Yeldell place | Natural Causes | ||
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
Sallie Young | December 8, 1890 | at Mr A. F Broadwaters Plantation | Accident | ||
Joseph Moore Jr. | April 19, 1846 | at the house of Dr John D. Nicholson | Natural Causes |