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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident | |
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Infant Boy Child Colored | Infant Boy Child Colored | February 15, 1883 | at the residence of Charles Coleman | Unknown | |
Everett Hook | July 18, 1891 | at the saw Mill of M J Hook | Accident | ||
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
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 | ||
Amanda Glover | August 30, 1892 | at Mr Pofse[?] Lotts Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | October 6, 1891 | at her Residence | Unknown | |
Cap Bryan | February 25, 1893 | at the plantation of Mrs Doziers | Accident | ||
Henry Padget | freedman | November 14, 1866 | at Wm Padgets premises on Clouds Creek | Homicide | |
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
Joseph W. Glover | September 2, 1844 | at Charles Comptys[?] Hotel | Homicide | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Hardy Boulware | January 2, 1862 | at Hardy Boulwares | Homicide | ||
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | January 10, 1892 | at Trenton | Accident | |
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
John M. Tillman | May 6, 1860 | at Mr J.A Tillmans Steam Mill | Homicide | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident | ||
Dinah | Woman Slave | May 22, 1849 | at Allen Griffith | Natural Causes | |
Lidda Hampton | November 24, 1893 | at A Derrecks | Natural Causes | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1858 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
John McManas | December 4, 1883 | at the Jail | Accident | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
John G. Riddle | July 3, 1860 | at the residence of Mr Richard Burton | Natural Causes | ||
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes |