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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
Jack Taylor | April 11, 1892 | at the house of Hal[?] Miles | Natural Causes | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
B. C. Bryan | March 16, 1884 | at B C Bryan Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Lawrence Frazier | child | January 14, 1895 | at D.B. Holingsworths | Accident | |
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
Isaac Oliphant | November 9, 1882 | at Ritch Thomson | Accident | ||
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide | ||
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
Willis Asbell | December 7, 1877 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | ||
Isham Glover | August 9, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Richard Mims | August 1, 1899 | at the plantation of Mrs. H. Carter | Accident | ||
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
Kizziah[?] | slave, servant | March 11, 1860 | at the residence of Mr M Lanham | Natural Causes | |
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
J. F. Styron | April 21, 1891 | at residence of J. F. Styron[?] | Accident | ||
Violet | negro woman (slave) | March 25, 1844 | at John Dinkinses | Suicide | |
Infant | Infant | December 18, 1894 | at the Rinheart Grave yard | Unknown | |
Allen Holmes | March 4, 1882 | at Oscar Seigler Residence | Homicide | ||
Solomon Ellenberg | February 18, 1859 | near the Residence of G.M. Ouzts[?] | Suicide | ||
Kisiah Frazier | December 17, 1893 | at the plantation of T S Rainsforde | Natural Causes | ||
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation | Accident | ||
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Patrick Burns[?] | November 4, 1858 | at the residence of Richard Campbell | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | December 14, 1877 | at Dr. K N Hudsons plantation | Homicide | |
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Levi S. Mathews | July 13, 1892 | at G. C. Wheerles[?] Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Ana May Blocker | child | December 2, 1894 | at Ben Boatwrights farm | Natural Causes | |
Isham Glover | August 10, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
George Robinson | January 12, 1892 | at the plantation of E. B. Davis | Natural Causes | ||
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes |