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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Joel W. Warren | November 9, 1894 | at Joseph Mirren[?] House | Natural Causes | ||
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Mary Bright Hanpt[?] | October 6, 1881 | at Bright Hanpt[?] | Unknown | ||
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
Hartwell Roper | June 17, 1869 | at the residence of Rev. J.P. Mealing | Natural Causes | ||
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Wade Medlock | July 12, 1894 | at Benjamin Boatwrights Plantation | Unknown |