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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lula Smith | child | June 22, 1894 | at James A Satcher's Plantation | Homicide | |
Peter White | March 11, 1898 | at Jacob White upon the Plantation Silvester Chipley | Homicide | ||
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro slave | December 18, 1858 | at Chlo Watsons | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | August 5, 1878 | at the residence of H J Wright | Homicide | |
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Jim | negro boy | July 23, 1855 | at Wade Holsteens | Homicide | knife |
William M. Tredaway | March 27, 1851 | at the house of William M Tredaway at Beach Island | Homicide | ||
Charles | slave, boy | September 25, 1861 | at Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Ben Lowman | September 14, 1894 | at W.[?] L. Rawls Mills | Homicide | pistol | |
Wilson Griffin | freedman | February 13, 1867 | at Luke Rodgers | Homicide | |
Augustus W. Burt | March 25, 1847 | at the Plantation of A.W. Burt | Homicide | axe | |
Joe Weston | January 31, 1895 | in Edgefield County | Homicide | ||
Allen Smith | Freedman | January 19, 1867 | at S.B. Chappells Residence | Homicide | pistol |
Tandy Holmes | September 21, 1894 | at or on Dr. W.C. Prescotts Plantation | Homicide | ||
male baby | male baby | May 24, 1891 | at the Saluda River | Homicide | |
Isaac Matthias Jones | October 14, 1858 | at the house of Lewis Jones (Sr) at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | knife | |
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Johnson Peterson | March 9, 1892 | at Deny[?] S.C. | Homicide | pistol | |
Griff Zimmerman | October 9, 1899 | at Johnston Township | Homicide | pistol | |
James Reynolds | December 20, 1860 | at the residence of James Reynolds | Homicide | ||
Stephen Stalmaker | August 30, 1850 | at J.M.C. Freeland's | Homicide | plank | |
infant | infant | March 24, 1892 | at Pinksville | Homicide | |
J. D. Ouzts | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield | Homicide | pistol | |
Henry Mobley | December 11, 1899 | at Johnston | Homicide | pistol | |
John H. Anderson | March 21, 1891 | at Tom Anderson place | Homicide | ||
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
Matilda H. Posey | February 26, 1849 | at the house of Martin Posey | Homicide | stick | |
Frank Holson | freedman | January 9, 1867 | at Lee Holson | Homicide | pistol |
infant | infant | January 10, 1898 | at Johnston | Homicide | |
infant child | infant child | December 14, 1877 | at Dr. K N Hudsons plantation | Homicide | |
Prince | negro boy | December 23, 1849 | at Thos G. Lamars Mills on little horse creek | Homicide | knife |
Sam Howard | Freedman | August 6, 1866 | at L. L. Halls | Homicide | knife |
William Samuel | April 26, 1891 | at Scima[?] Hill Church | Homicide | ||
William | negro man, boy, slave | February 13, 1849 | at R. F. Barretts | Homicide | knife |
Hardy Boulware | January 2, 1862 | at Hardy Boulwares | Homicide | ||
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
Hammond Frasier | November 6, 1897 | at Trenton S.C. | Homicide | pistol | |
Willis Asbell | December 7, 1877 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | ||
Willie Toney | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Isaac Boseley | July 5, 1880 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | pistol | |
Baze | negro slave | March 31, 1863 | at the D. J. Howls | Homicide | chop axe |
Allen Holmes | March 4, 1882 | at Oscar Seigler Residence | Homicide | ||
William Thurmond | February 14, 1856 | at Edgefield Court House, Planters[?] Hotel | Homicide | chair | |
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Samuel Posey | October 21, 1860 | at P. B. McDaniels | Homicide | pistol | |
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide |