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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wily Royal | January 7, 1895 | at J.S. Hancocks | Accident | pistol | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Cap Bryan | February 25, 1893 | at the plantation of Mrs Doziers | Accident | ||
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
George Bowers | May 26, 1891 | at Kenards bend | Accident | mule | |
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
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 | |
Cland Elam | child | March 17, 1892 | at A. J. Norris Place | Accident | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
John Scott | May 10, 1851 | at Vaucluse[?] Factory | Accident | horse | |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | 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 | |
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 | |
Andrew | negro man | October 6, 1855 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | train |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | 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 |
Joseph Jay | October 4, 1860 | at Joseph Jays | Accident | horse | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
Edward Horton | August 7, 1879 | near Wesley Barrs[?] | Accident | sunstroke | |
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
Sam | negro man | October 19, 1856 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road between the Paper Mill and Marsh's | Accident | train |
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
Mike | negro man | September 13, 1844 | at Dr John D. Nicholsons Mill | Accident | |
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Richard | negroe Boy | April 21, 1863 | in the District of Edgefield | Accident | train |