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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
Robert | slave, boy | April 8, 1847 | at Edward Hampton's | Suicide | |
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Lizzie Greeg | July 4, 1884 | at Capt Taliar[?] Hearin[?] | 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 | ||
William Samuel | April 26, 1891 | at Scima[?] Hill Church | Homicide | ||
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
Adam Barker | August 10, 1879 | at the Residence of Adam Barker Decd | Suicide | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Willie Toney | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
Rose | negro woman Slave | March 14, 1846 | at Michael Longs | Homicide | |
Edward Johnston | December 26, 1892 | at William Bushes | Unknown | ||
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
B. C. Bryan | March 16, 1884 | at B C Bryan Residence | Natural Causes | ||
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide | ||
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
R. Mackgrath | January 5, 1852 | at the house of John Dobey | Other | ||
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
Isaac Oliphant | November 9, 1882 | at Ritch Thomson | Accident | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Warren Kirkland | November 16, 1858 | at Benjamin Bartons | Homicide | ||
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
Jack Taylor | April 11, 1892 | at the house of Hal[?] Miles | Natural Causes | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Lizzy Rardon | September 28, 1879 | at Clansey Holloways plantation | Accident | ||
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Lawrence Frazier | child | January 14, 1895 | at D.B. Holingsworths | Accident | |
James Reynolds | December 20, 1860 | at the residence of James Reynolds | Homicide | ||
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
Patrick Burns[?] | November 4, 1858 | at the residence of Richard Campbell | Natural Causes | ||
Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation | Accident | ||
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Allen Holmes | March 4, 1882 | at Oscar Seigler Residence | Homicide | ||
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill | Accident | ||
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
Levi S. Mathews | July 13, 1892 | at G. C. Wheerles[?] Residence | Natural Causes |