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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Mahlon Jones | December 25, 1891 | at Landrams Farm | Homicide | ||
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
white man | white man | October 21, 1849 | in the woods near Holsonbakers[?] old fields | Natural Causes | |
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
B. J. Mims | January 20, 1885 | at the Residence of Capt B J Mims | Natural Causes | ||
Tom | negro slave | December 18, 1858 | at Chlo Watsons | Homicide | |
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
Rachiel Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Wilson Griffin | freedman | February 13, 1867 | at Luke Rodgers | Homicide | |
Caroline Coleman | July 25, 1893 | at Brisel[?] Blacks Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
Isham Glover | August 9, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Alick Croker | boy | September 29, 1878 | at Mrs. Marshes premises | Accident | |
Lovina | negroe girl, a slave | September 4, 1860 | at Doct H M Folks[Faulk?] | Suicide | |
Presley Wise | July 11, 1891 | at D W. Padgetts plantation | Homicide | ||
Violet | negro woman (slave) | March 25, 1844 | at John Dinkinses | Suicide | |
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Al White | October 12, 1898 | at Mundy[?] Place | Homicide | ||
Solomon Ellenberg | February 18, 1859 | near the Residence of G.M. Ouzts[?] | Suicide | ||
James Edward Settle | boy | March 9, 1884 | on Henry Hill Plantation | Accident | |
Charity Johnson | March 11, 1847 | at the Residence of Charity Johnson, late deceased | Natural Causes | ||
Eddie Watson | Infant | April 25, 1892 | at Bob Stevens | Natural Causes | |
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Enoch Douglass | August 11, 1879 | near Wesly Barrs on the rail road | Accident | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
George Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Isham Glover | August 10, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Bob | negro | September 23, 1864 | in the District | Natural Causes | |
George Robinson | January 12, 1892 | at the plantation of E. B. Davis | Natural Causes | ||
Jane Glover | January 12, 1883 | at Handy Tanks House on John Wir[?] plantation | Unknown | ||
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Curry | slave | March 17, 1856 | at Mrs Elizabeth Middletons Plantation | Accident |