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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident | |
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Wily Royal | January 7, 1895 | at J.S. Hancocks | Accident | pistol | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Peter | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Cap Bryan | February 25, 1893 | at the plantation of Mrs Doziers | Accident | ||
George Bowers | May 26, 1891 | at Kenards bend | Accident | mule | |
Charles S. Harrison | November 25, 1878 | at E.C. House | Accident | pistol | |
Lizzy Rardon | September 28, 1879 | at Clansey Holloways plantation | Accident | ||
John Seigler | February 13, 1856 | at J.H. Christians | Accident | buggy | |
Wallace Halloway | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield Court house | Accident | train | |
Hampton Weaver | colored | July 17, 1869 | at the house of and on the farm of James T Outz | Accident | shotgun |
Unknown | October 10, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | train | |
Julia Hightower | child | November 9, 1890 | at Mr Sam Marshes Place | Accident | |
Henry Peterson | June 13, 1893 | at Ridge Spring | Accident | train | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
John Scott | May 10, 1851 | at Vaucluse[?] Factory | Accident | horse | |
Betsey | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
Andrew | negro man | October 6, 1855 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | train |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Steve Yeldell | October 28, 1894 | at Edgefield | Accident | cart | |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
Ezekiel Thomas | February 4, 1879 | near Johnstons | Accident | train | |
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
John Radford | April 12, 1860 | at the residence of John Radford | Accident | wagon | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
John Young | June 27, 1891 | at the residence of John Young | Accident | ||
Mary Blocker | December 6, 1894 | at R H Parks | Accident | strychnine |