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![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Berry Butler | October 9, 1892 | at J. H Lagroons[?] plantation | Accident | ||
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Emaline Jackson | August 27, 1894 | at Dr Childs Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
infant | infant | December 15, 1892 | at Mr. Pleasant Grave Yard | Accident | |
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
J. M. Long | October 10, 1891 | at J. M. Longs | Homicide | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
John J. Cobb | July 23, 1843 | at William Elkins Mill Pond | Suicide | ||
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
infant Boy | infant Boy | October 29, 1894 | at [?] Coleman | Natural Causes | |
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Richmond | slave | March 3, 1857 | at V[?] Elbert Blands residence at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | |
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
John McManas | December 4, 1883 | at the Jail | Accident | ||
J. D. Wells | December 14, 1890 | at Edgefield C.H. | Natural Causes | ||
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
Dilsey Seigler | September 20, 1869 | at Miles Mills | Natural Causes | ||
John G. Riddle | July 3, 1860 | at the residence of Mr Richard Burton | Natural Causes | ||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
Julia Banks | September 4, 1891 | at Mr Banks Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
Silvy Nix | January 1, 1891 | Natural Causes | |||
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
John Webb | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Henry Jennings | September 14, 1891 | at the residense of diceased | Natural Causes | ||
J. E. Black | May 8, 1861 | at the Residence of J. E. Black | Other | ||
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Tandy Holmes | September 21, 1894 | at or on Dr. W.C. Prescotts Plantation | Homicide | ||
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Lidia Watson | January 26, 1894 | at J E Macks | Accident | ||
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident |