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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Lindy Jones | March 15, 1882 | at George Holingsworth House | Accident | ||
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | August 5, 1878 | at the residence of H J Wright | Homicide | |
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
George Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Jane Glover | January 12, 1883 | at Handy Tanks House on John Wir[?] plantation | Unknown | ||
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Lizzie Greeg | July 4, 1884 | at Capt Taliar[?] Hearin[?] | Natural Causes | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Adam Barker | August 10, 1879 | at the Residence of Adam Barker Decd | Suicide | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Charley Geeter | October 27, 1881 | at Violets Geeter's house | Accident | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Isaac Oliphant | November 9, 1882 | at Ritch Thomson | Accident | ||
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Lizzy Rardon | September 28, 1879 | at Clansey Holloways plantation | Accident |