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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dave | negro man Slave | March 16, 1849 | at Kilcrease's Ferry | Accident | boat |
Elijah Flour[?] | youth | July 24, 1849 | at the hous of Mrs Salley Spradley | Accident | |
Richard | negro boy Slave | September 9, 1850 | at Thomas Garretts | Accident | machinery |
Ransom Hollaway | May 14, 1862 | at Ransom Holaways | Accident | lightning | |
Willie Glover | July 26, 1892 | at Lark Glovers Plantation | Accident | mule | |
William Perry | January 7, 1894 | in the county and state aforesaid | Accident | ||
Clem | slave, boy | October 3, 1858 | at Tabitha Abney's | Accident | |
Isah Zimmerman | December 26, 1881 | at the Residence of W F Ste[?]eies | Accident | pistol | |
Jesse Limbecker | June 18, 1869 | at Hamburg | Accident | ||
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
Sallie Holmes | December 20, 1893 | at D. P. Bodies[?] | Accident | ||
James Blocker | May 6, 1897 | Accident | train | ||
Hugh Duffey Sr. | August 26, 1855 | at Bethany Church | Accident | horse | |
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
Curry | slave | March 17, 1856 | at Mrs Elizabeth Middletons Plantation | Accident | |
Joseph Jay | October 4, 1860 | at Joseph Jays | Accident | horse | |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Balus Harrison | November 14, 1893 | at Edgefield CH | Accident | cart | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Uriah Koon | October 16, 1847 | at the house of Col John Hunt | Accident | wagon | |
George Delaughter | April 30, 1861 | at the Hamburg Passenger Depot | Accident | train | |
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
James Perry | December 27, 1894 | at Mt Enon Church | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | January 18, 1892 | at the Plantation of L. G. Swearinger | Accident | |
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Lidia Watson | January 26, 1894 | at J E Macks | Accident | ||
Edward Horton | August 7, 1879 | near Wesley Barrs[?] | Accident | sunstroke | |
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
Fannie Patton | November 18, 1898 | at Francis Williams house | Accident | ||
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Ben Culbreath | July 24, 1895 | at Jno A Corleys plantation | Accident | horse | |
Sallie Young | December 8, 1890 | at Mr A. F Broadwaters Plantation | Accident | ||
William Lundy | August 28, 1846 | at house of John Rainsford | Accident | ||
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
Louisa | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Charly Washington | boy | November 22, 1891 | at the house of George Washington near Bauknights ferry | Accident | |
Sarah Lucas | October 30, 1890 | at Mr. M L Holson | Accident | ||
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident |