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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
infant Boy | infant Boy | October 29, 1894 | at [?] Coleman | Natural Causes | |
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Cooper | slave | March 17, 1852 | at the plantation of L.H. Mundy decd | Natural Causes | |
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident | ||
Mid[?] Griffin | February 2, 1895 | at the Govelace[?] Place | Natural Causes | ||
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
Charley Geeter | October 27, 1881 | at Violets Geeter's house | Accident | ||
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | January 22, 1894 | at Oak Gilchrist House | Natural Causes | |
Joseph Moore Jr. | April 19, 1846 | at the house of Dr John D. Nicholson | Natural Causes | ||
Dudley Roundtree | August 10, 1856 | at the dwelling house of the late Dudley Roundtree | Natural Causes | ||
Emaline Jackson | August 27, 1894 | at Dr Childs Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Lizzie Greeg | July 4, 1884 | at Capt Taliar[?] Hearin[?] | Natural Causes | ||
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
John Webb | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
Lizzy Rardon | September 28, 1879 | at Clansey Holloways plantation | Accident | ||
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Jennings | September 14, 1891 | at the residense of diceased | Natural Causes | ||
James Reynolds | December 20, 1860 | at the residence of James Reynolds | Homicide | ||
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
B. C. Bryan | March 16, 1884 | at B C Bryan Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Julia Banks | September 4, 1891 | at Mr Banks Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Isaac Oliphant | November 9, 1882 | at Ritch Thomson | Accident | ||
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
Fannie Patton | November 18, 1898 | at Francis Williams house | Accident | ||
Willis Asbell | December 7, 1877 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | ||
Patrick Burns[?] | November 4, 1858 | at the residence of Richard Campbell | Natural Causes |