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![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Joseph Moore Jr. | April 19, 1846 | at the house of Dr John D. Nicholson | Natural Causes | ||
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
Dudley Roundtree | August 10, 1856 | at the dwelling house of the late Dudley Roundtree | Natural Causes | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
James Leppard | February 13, 1893 | at F. M. Leppards | Natural Causes | ||
Mahlon Jones | December 25, 1891 | at Landrams Farm | Homicide | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Infred Padgett | July 12, 1848 | at the Joal of Edgefield | Natural Causes | ||
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown | |
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Kisiah Frazier | December 17, 1893 | at the plantation of T S Rainsforde | Natural Causes | ||
William Padgett | February 22, 1894 | at W.D. Readys plantation | Homicide | ||
Presley Wise | July 11, 1891 | at D W. Padgetts plantation | Homicide | ||
Sam | Slave | June 14, 1858 | at Henry Spiers[?] | Accident | |
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
Patrick Burns[?] | November 4, 1858 | at the residence of Richard Campbell | Natural Causes | ||
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Al White | October 12, 1898 | at Mundy[?] Place | Homicide | ||
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Eddie Watson | Infant | April 25, 1892 | at Bob Stevens | Natural Causes | |
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
Albert Watson | June 15, 1892 | at the plantation of W.B. Maffett | Natural Causes | ||
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Caroline Coleman | July 25, 1893 | at Brisel[?] Blacks Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Infant | Infant | December 18, 1894 | at the Rinheart Grave yard | Unknown | |
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident |