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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lizzy Rardon | September 28, 1879 | at Clansey Holloways plantation | Accident | ||
Richard | negroe Boy | April 21, 1863 | in the District of Edgefield | Accident | train |
Lucy Roper | June 29, 1899 | on the pantation of S.W. Miller | Accident | lightning | |
Cap Bryan | February 25, 1893 | at the plantation of Mrs Doziers | Accident | ||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
John Seigler | February 13, 1856 | at J.H. Christians | Accident | buggy | |
Isaac Oliphant | November 9, 1882 | at Ritch Thomson | Accident | ||
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident | |
Peter | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Charles S. Harrison | November 25, 1878 | at E.C. House | Accident | pistol | |
Henry Peterson | June 13, 1893 | at Ridge Spring | Accident | train | |
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Auson Peeler | July 25, 1868 | near Kalmia[?] Mills | Accident | horse | |
Lesthia Ridlehouse[Ridlehover?] | January 5, 1892 | at the Residence of Mrs Edny Mary | Accident | ||
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Betsey | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Emanuel Johnson | October 7, 1893 | at Wards | Accident | train | |
Hugh Wetherford | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Accident | train | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
William H Maharey | May 25, 1863 | at Haslin Factory on the Procelian Manufacturing Company | Accident | ||
Lawrence Frazier | child | January 14, 1895 | at D.B. Holingsworths | Accident | |
Steve Yeldell | October 28, 1894 | at Edgefield | Accident | cart | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
Henry Goodman | May 4, 1851 | at or near to William H Adams on little horse Creek | Accident | ||
Mary | female Slave | January 13, 1853 | at Isaac Bowles[?] | Accident | |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
Andrew | negro man | October 6, 1855 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | train |
Ezekiel Thomas | February 4, 1879 | near Johnstons | Accident | train | |
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
Richard Mims | August 1, 1899 | at the plantation of Mrs. H. Carter | Accident | ||
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
John Radford | April 12, 1860 | at the residence of John Radford | Accident | wagon | |
George Low | col | June 6, 1869 | at Sand Bar Ferry | Accident | stems of yellow jasmine |
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
J. F. Styron | April 21, 1891 | at residence of J. F. Styron[?] | Accident | ||
Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation | Accident | ||
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident |