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 | |
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
white man | white man | October 21, 1849 | in the woods near Holsonbakers[?] old fields | Natural Causes | |
Matt Loyd | February 24, 1891 | at Mr. Carmal cemetary near the Old Wills | Natural Causes | ||
William C. Goff | May 7, 1865 | at Bethany Church | Accident | ||
Mahlon Jones | December 25, 1891 | at Landrams Farm | Homicide | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
Sallie Busch | August 21, 1892 | at Lewis Beans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
infant male child | infant male child | January 3, 1894 | in Edgefield County | Natural Causes | |
Eddie Watson | Infant | April 25, 1892 | at Bob Stevens | Natural Causes | |
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Wilson Griffin | freedman | February 13, 1867 | at Luke Rodgers | Homicide | |
Prince | negro man | October 27, 1844 | at Mrs Elizabeth Timmermans | Suicide | |
Joseph Riddle | April 10, 1856 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Ryal | Negro Slave | July 28, 1851 | at Mr Thos McKies Batteau landing on Big Stephen's Creek | Accident | |
Caroline Coleman | July 25, 1893 | at Brisel[?] Blacks Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Lovina | negroe girl, a slave | September 4, 1860 | at Doct H M Folks[Faulk?] | Suicide | |
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Garett Doby | October 11, 1880 | at William Rufus | Natural Causes | ||
Ras | slave | December 6, 1850 | at D Dennys Mill | Suicide | |
Presley Wise | July 11, 1891 | at D W. Padgetts plantation | Homicide | ||
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Charity Johnson | March 11, 1847 | at the Residence of Charity Johnson, late deceased | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | July 24, 1892 | at Promised Land School house | Unknown | |
Al White | October 12, 1898 | at Mundy[?] Place | Homicide | ||
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Gertrude | infant child | December 1, 1891 | at Edgfield Court house | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | October 6, 1891 | at her Residence | Unknown | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Joseph W. Glover | September 2, 1844 | at Charles Comptys[?] Hotel | Homicide | ||
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Ned Dozier | September 27, 1893 | at MJ Holsteins | Homicide | ||
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Padget | freedman | November 14, 1866 | at Wm Padgets premises on Clouds Creek | Homicide | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
Everett Hook | July 18, 1891 | at the saw Mill of M J Hook | Accident | ||
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown |