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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
Warren Kirkland | November 16, 1858 | at Benjamin Bartons | Homicide | ||
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Presley Wise | July 11, 1891 | at D W. Padgetts plantation | Homicide | ||
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Al White | October 12, 1898 | at Mundy[?] Place | Homicide | ||
John Brown | December 20, 1844 | at the house of John Brown | Natural Causes | ||
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Eddie Watson | Infant | April 25, 1892 | at Bob Stevens | Natural Causes | |
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident | ||
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill | Accident | ||
Caroline Coleman | July 25, 1893 | at Brisel[?] Blacks Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
Bob | negro | September 23, 1864 | in the District | Natural Causes | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
William Lundy | August 28, 1846 | at house of John Rainsford | Accident | ||
J. J. Jennings | November 16, 1860 | at J J Jennings | Suicide | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard | Natural Causes | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Daniel | slave, boy | April 28, 1859 | at L. Halls Tisery[?] | Suicide | |
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Wade Barronton | October 8, 1860 | at Wade Barrontons Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Clara Bell | colored child | June 23, 1868 | at Rev. H.T. Baitleys | Homicide |