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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
Sallie Busch | August 21, 1892 | at Lewis Beans plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
Julia Banks | September 4, 1891 | at Mr Banks Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
Mike | negro man | September 13, 1844 | at Dr John D. Nicholsons Mill | Accident | |
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
John Webb | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Charles | negro man | February 27, 1850 | at Scotts Shoals on Savannah River | Accident | |
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
Henry Jennings | September 14, 1891 | at the residense of diceased | Natural Causes | ||
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown | |
Matt Loyd | February 24, 1891 | at Mr. Carmal cemetary near the Old Wills | Natural Causes | ||
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
Lidia Watson | January 26, 1894 | at J E Macks | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | July 24, 1892 | at Promised Land School house | Unknown | |
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Gertrude | infant child | December 1, 1891 | at Edgfield Court house | Accident | |
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
James Perry | December 27, 1894 | at Mt Enon Church | Accident | ||
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
Prince | negro man | October 27, 1844 | at Mrs Elizabeth Timmermans | Suicide | |
Fannie Patton | November 18, 1898 | at Francis Williams house | Accident | ||
Ryal | Negro Slave | July 28, 1851 | at Mr Thos McKies Batteau landing on Big Stephen's Creek | Accident | |
Reubin Weaver | December 28, 1895 | at Elijah Boatwrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Garett Doby | October 11, 1880 | at William Rufus | Natural Causes | ||
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
George W. Medlock | January 1, 1848 | at the house of Daniel Abby | Natural Causes | ||
Amanda Glover | August 30, 1892 | at Mr Pofse[?] Lotts Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
John Henry King | October 29, 1865 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | October 6, 1891 | at her Residence | Unknown | |
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Charly Washington | boy | November 22, 1891 | at the house of George Washington near Bauknights ferry | Accident | |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident |