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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Jack Taylor | April 11, 1892 | at the house of Hal[?] Miles | Natural Causes | ||
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Jim | slave | June 10, 1859 | at M, L, Bonham Esqr residence on the Pine House road | Natural Causes | |
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
Lawrence Frazier | child | January 14, 1895 | at D.B. Holingsworths | Accident | |
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Joe | infant negro | August 26, 1860 | at John Huiets | Accident | |
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Levi S. Mathews | July 13, 1892 | at G. C. Wheerles[?] Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Kisiah Frazier | December 17, 1893 | at the plantation of T S Rainsforde | Natural Causes | ||
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Isham Glover | August 9, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Richard Mims | August 1, 1899 | at the plantation of Mrs. H. Carter | Accident | ||
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Patrick Burns[?] | November 4, 1858 | at the residence of Richard Campbell | Natural Causes | ||
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
J. F. Styron | April 21, 1891 | at residence of J. F. Styron[?] | Accident | ||
Violet | negro woman (slave) | March 25, 1844 | at John Dinkinses | Suicide | |
George Hatcher | freedman | June 19, 1867 | at B. W. Hatchers Mill on Shaws creek | Natural Causes | |
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
Solomon Ellenberg | February 18, 1859 | near the Residence of G.M. Ouzts[?] | Suicide | ||
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation | Accident | ||
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Infant | Infant | December 18, 1894 | at the Rinheart Grave yard | Unknown | |
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Ana May Blocker | child | December 2, 1894 | at Ben Boatwrights farm | Natural Causes | |
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Isham Glover | August 10, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
George Robinson | January 12, 1892 | at the plantation of E. B. Davis | Natural Causes | ||
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Julia Van | June 20, 1892 | at the plantation of Mr Joe Thurmond | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes |