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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide | ||
Joseph W. Glover | September 2, 1844 | at Charles Comptys[?] Hotel | Homicide | ||
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Robert Parks | September 27, 1894 | at Parkville | Homicide | lick | |
Bill King | August 9, 1881 | at H C Kings Residence | Homicide | hoe | |
Harry | slave | December 25, 1858 | at Col Arthur Sinkins[?] | Homicide | knife |
Thomas Styson | June 22, 1856 | at R. M. Fullers | Homicide | hoe | |
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Joseph Riddle | April 10, 1856 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
J. H. Christian | July 21, 1856 | in the village of Edgefield in Room No 11, in B. J. Ryans Hotel | Homicide | pistol | |
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Henry Burt | June 21, 1895 | at Henry Burts | Homicide | knife | |
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Julia Van | June 20, 1892 | at the plantation of Mr Joe Thurmond | Homicide | ||
James Bledsoe | May 15, 1893 | at Dr D.P. Lalsrones[?] Residence | Homicide | pistol | |
Michael Long | April 17, 1849 | at the house of Michael Long | Homicide | shotgun | |
Frank Holson | freedman | January 9, 1867 | at Lee Holson | Homicide | pistol |
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Andy Padgett | July 5, 1891 | near Ridge Spring | Homicide | knife | |
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
Jno. C Swearingin | April 24, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
Namro | negro man | August 11, 1844 | at the house of Rob King Esqr | Homicide | club or stick |
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
Isham Glover | August 9, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Sam Howard | Freedman | August 6, 1866 | at L. L. Halls | Homicide | knife |
John Agner | December 26, 1883 | at Mr. John Agner's | Homicide | knife | |
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Benjamin F. Jones | March 24, 1845 | at W B Griffins | Homicide | shotgun | |
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
Isham Glover | August 10, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Peter | negro man | June 16, 1838 | at a Mr. Azariah[?] Abneys | Homicide | stick |
Henry | male slave | July 15, 1858 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | hickory stick |
Elijah Reynolds | April 11, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | pistol | |
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
Prophet Burt | freedman | December 29, 1866 | at E.N. Troys | Homicide | knife |
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Samuel Posey | October 21, 1860 | at P. B. McDaniels | Homicide | pistol | |
John Webb | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
Lizzy | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | axe |