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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Harry | negro boy | September 9, 1858 | at the residence of the Rev. J. L. Brooks | Accident | |
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
Jim | slave | June 10, 1859 | at M, L, Bonham Esqr residence on the Pine House road | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Nancy Weaver | December 20, 1893 | at Edgefield Court House | Accident | ||
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Joe | infant negro | August 26, 1860 | at John Huiets | Accident | |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
infant male child | infant male child | January 3, 1894 | in Edgefield County | Natural Causes | |
Violet | negro woman (slave) | March 25, 1844 | at John Dinkinses | Suicide | |
Bluford Abney | November 14, 1894 | at M.A. Colemans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Solomon Ellenberg | February 18, 1859 | near the Residence of G.M. Ouzts[?] | Suicide | ||
Joseph Riddle | April 10, 1856 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
George Hatcher | freedman | June 19, 1867 | at B. W. Hatchers Mill on Shaws creek | Natural Causes | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
J. B. Whittle | November 28, 1894 | at Mrs Whittles | Natural Causes | ||
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Ras | slave | December 6, 1850 | at D Dennys Mill | Suicide | |
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Isham Glover | August 9, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide |