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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
John McManas | December 4, 1883 | at the Jail | Accident | ||
Solomon | negro man | June 24, 1844 | near the Mill of George A. McKee on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Ora Weaver | February 21, 1891 | at the plantation of D B. H Holfarth[illegible - ink blot] | Accident | ||
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Sarah Lucas | October 30, 1890 | at Mr. M L Holson | Accident | ||
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Mingo Mosley | January 13, 1883 | at Samuel[?] Corley's | Accident | ||
Abram | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at Henry L Maysons | Accident | |
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
James Blocker | May 6, 1897 | Accident | train | ||
A. G. Howard | February 28, 1860 | at Grannet Ville Depot | Accident | ||
Jesse Moragna[?] | March 3, 1882 | at Luke Moragines[?] House | Accident | ||
Fannie Ford | March 5, 1893 | at Trenton S.C. | Accident | train | |
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Lila Washington | February 20, 1879 | at Wesley Barns Mill | Accident | ||
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
William Humphry | January 4, 1894 | at Etheridge Bridge | Accident | pocket knife | |
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Isaac | negro man | December 1, 1856 | at a point on the South Carolina Rail Road [?] Brooks Mill creek | Accident | train |
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Balus Harrison | November 14, 1893 | at Edgefield CH | Accident | cart | |
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
George Delaughter | April 30, 1861 | at the Hamburg Passenger Depot | Accident | train | |
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
James Perry | December 27, 1894 | at Mt Enon Church | Accident | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
Allen Bauknight | freedman | June 11, 1866 | at William Bauknights | Accident | |
Lidia Watson | January 26, 1894 | at J E Macks | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Louisa Wooden | October 13, 1893 | at Mose Woden | Accident | ||
Fannie Patton | November 18, 1898 | at Francis Williams house | Accident | ||
David West | boy | January 30, 1862 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
Ben Culbreath | July 24, 1895 | at Jno A Corleys plantation | Accident | horse | |
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
John Seigler | February 13, 1856 | at J.H. Christians | Accident | buggy | |
Charly Washington | boy | November 22, 1891 | at the house of George Washington near Bauknights ferry | Accident | |
Isah Zimmerman | December 26, 1881 | at the Residence of W F Ste[?]eies | Accident | pistol | |
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident |