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 | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Dudley Roundtree | August 10, 1856 | at the dwelling house of the late Dudley Roundtree | Natural Causes | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1858 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
Mary Bright Hanpt[?] | October 6, 1881 | at Bright Hanpt[?] | Unknown | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Matt Loyd | February 24, 1891 | at Mr. Carmal cemetary near the Old Wills | Natural Causes | ||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
B. J. Mims | January 20, 1885 | at the Residence of Capt B J Mims | Natural Causes | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Sallie Busch | August 21, 1892 | at Lewis Beans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Jim | slave | June 10, 1859 | at M, L, Bonham Esqr residence on the Pine House road | Natural Causes | |
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Mike | negro man | September 13, 1844 | at Dr John D. Nicholsons Mill | Accident | |
Joe | infant negro | August 26, 1860 | at John Huiets | Accident | |
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
Charles | negro man | February 27, 1850 | at Scotts Shoals on Savannah River | Accident | |
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Garett Doby | October 11, 1880 | at William Rufus | Natural Causes | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
Enoch Douglass | August 11, 1879 | near Wesly Barrs on the rail road | Accident |