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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
George W. Medlock | January 1, 1848 | at the house of Daniel Abby | Natural Causes | ||
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Alexander P. Kennard | February 16, 1847 | in the District | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Joseph Moore Jr. | April 19, 1846 | at the house of Dr John D. Nicholson | Natural Causes | ||
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Hartwell Roper | June 17, 1869 | at the residence of Rev. J.P. Mealing | Natural Causes | ||
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
Wade Medlock | July 12, 1894 | at Benjamin Boatwrights Plantation | Unknown | ||
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident |