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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
John Brown | December 20, 1844 | at the house of John Brown | Natural Causes | ||
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
Daniel | slave, boy | April 28, 1859 | at L. Halls Tisery[?] | Suicide | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Clara Bell | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide | |
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide |