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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Aggy Latily[?] | negro woman slave | June 21, 1848 | at the plantation of N L Griffin | Unknown | |
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Griffin Mays | November 20, 1897 | at W. H. Pordew | Unknown | pistol | |
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
infant child | infant child | July 24, 1892 | at Promised Land School house | Unknown | |
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Caroline | Free negro | August 26, 1858 | four miles from Hamburg | Unknown | |
infant child | infant child | October 6, 1891 | at her Residence | Unknown | |
Mary Bright Hanpt[?] | October 6, 1881 | at Bright Hanpt[?] | Unknown | ||
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
A. P. Shultz | January 9, 1850 | at or near Solomon Clickleys[?] | Unknown | ||
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Joel Etheridge | November 29, 1893 | at Joel Etheridge Residence | Unknown | ||
Jane Glover | January 12, 1883 | at Handy Tanks House on John Wir[?] plantation | Unknown | ||
Sam | slave, boy | October 10, 1857 | at the Carolina Hotel, Edgefield C.H. | Unknown | |
infant child | infant child | November 17, 1891 | at Mr M Toneys place | Unknown | |
Infant | Infant | December 18, 1894 | at the Rinheart Grave yard | Unknown | |
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
Edmond Price | April 30, 1892 | at Kennys Graveyard | Unknown | ||
Pete | slave | October 31, 1864 | at Liberty hill | Unknown | |
Minda | negro girl | August 17, 1851 | at Mr Geo Robinsons | Unknown | |
Infant Boy Child Colored | Infant Boy Child Colored | February 15, 1883 | at the residence of Charles Coleman | Unknown | |
Ansabelle Brown | October 21, 1866 | near the Tambor[?] Soba[?] Rail Road | Unknown | ||
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Wade Medlock | July 12, 1894 | at Benjamin Boatwrights Plantation | Unknown | ||
Edward Johnston | December 26, 1892 | at William Bushes | Unknown | ||
Hurnon[?] | April 4, 1862 | at Doct H R Cooks Plantation on Savanah River | Unknown | ||
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Henry Goodman | May 4, 1851 | at or near to William H Adams on little horse Creek | Accident | ||
Samuel Harrison | February 18, 1881 | at [inelligible - faded] | Accident | ||
Steve Yeldell | October 28, 1894 | at Edgefield | Accident | cart | |
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Mary | female Slave | January 13, 1853 | at Isaac Bowles[?] | Accident | |
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
Emanuel Johnson | October 7, 1893 | at Wards | Accident | train | |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
Hugh Wetherford | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Accident | train | |
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
William H Maharey | May 25, 1863 | at Haslin Factory on the Procelian Manufacturing Company | Accident | ||
Andrew | negro man | October 6, 1855 | on the track of the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | train |
Lawrence Frazier | child | January 14, 1895 | at D.B. Holingsworths | Accident | |
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
Elmira Jackson | May 18, 1884 | at George Holingsworths House | Accident | ||
J. F. Styron | April 21, 1891 | at residence of J. F. Styron[?] | Accident | ||
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Edinborough Ryan | December 30, 1882 | at Mrs D. L Bussy Plantation | Accident |