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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Sarah Scurry | September 28, 1844 | at the House of Sarah Scurry | Suicide | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Wade Barronton | October 8, 1860 | at Wade Barrontons Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Henry Goodman | May 4, 1851 | at or near to William H Adams on little horse Creek | Accident | ||
John J. Cobb | July 23, 1843 | at William Elkins Mill Pond | Suicide | ||
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide | ||
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Willie Toney | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Edward Johnston | December 26, 1892 | at William Bushes | Unknown | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Lesthia Ridlehouse[Ridlehover?] | January 5, 1892 | at the Residence of Mrs Edny Mary | Accident | ||
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
William Samuel | April 26, 1891 | at Scima[?] Hill Church | Homicide | ||
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Nancy Weaver | December 20, 1893 | at Edgefield Court House | Accident | ||
Lawrence Frazier | child | January 14, 1895 | at D.B. Holingsworths | Accident | |
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide |