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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
Mary Bright Hanpt[?] | October 6, 1881 | at Bright Hanpt[?] | Unknown | ||
Griffin Mays | November 20, 1897 | at W. H. Pordew | Unknown | pistol | |
A. P. Shultz | January 9, 1850 | at or near Solomon Clickleys[?] | Unknown | ||
Jane Glover | January 12, 1883 | at Handy Tanks House on John Wir[?] plantation | Unknown | ||
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
infant child | infant child | July 24, 1892 | at Promised Land School house | Unknown | |
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
Infant Boy Child Colored | Infant Boy Child Colored | February 15, 1883 | at the residence of Charles Coleman | Unknown | |
infant child | infant child | October 6, 1891 | at her Residence | Unknown | |
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown | |
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
infant child | infant child | November 17, 1891 | at Mr M Toneys place | Unknown | |
Infant | Infant | December 18, 1894 | at the Rinheart Grave yard | Unknown | |
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Edmond Price | April 30, 1892 | at Kennys Graveyard | Unknown | ||
Wade Medlock | July 12, 1894 | at Benjamin Boatwrights Plantation | Unknown | ||
Edward Johnston | December 26, 1892 | at William Bushes | Unknown | ||
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Hurnon[?] | April 4, 1862 | at Doct H R Cooks Plantation on Savanah River | Unknown | ||
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Henry Goodman | May 4, 1851 | at or near to William H Adams on little horse Creek | Accident | ||
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
Mary | female Slave | January 13, 1853 | at Isaac Bowles[?] | Accident | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
Uriah Koon | October 16, 1847 | at the house of Col John Hunt | Accident | wagon | |
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Emanuel Johnson | October 7, 1893 | at Wards | Accident | train | |
Hugh Wetherford | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Accident | train | |
William Humphry | January 4, 1894 | at Etheridge Bridge | Accident | pocket knife | |
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | 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 | |
Isaac | negro man | December 1, 1856 | at a point on the South Carolina Rail Road [?] Brooks Mill creek | Accident | train |
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Joseph Jay | October 4, 1860 | at Joseph Jays | Accident | horse | |
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Edward Horton | August 7, 1879 | near Wesley Barrs[?] | Accident | sunstroke | |
J. F. Styron | April 21, 1891 | at residence of J. F. Styron[?] | Accident |