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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sindy Brighthop | August 21, 1898 | on S.W. Gardners place | Homicide | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Solomon | negro man | June 24, 1844 | near the Mill of George A. McKee on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Solomon Ellenberg | February 18, 1859 | near the Residence of G.M. Ouzts[?] | Suicide | ||
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
Stanmore B. Chappell | January 19, 1867 | at S.B. Chappells Residence | Homicide | pistol | |
Stephen Stalmaker | August 30, 1850 | at J.M.C. Freeland's | Homicide | plank | |
Stepney | negro man | September 29, 1848 | at the Swamp Platation of Wiley Glover, decd on Savannah River | Suicide | |
Steve Yeldell | October 28, 1894 | at Edgefield | Accident | cart | |
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Tandy Holmes | September 21, 1894 | at or on Dr. W.C. Prescotts Plantation | Homicide | ||
Teague Tillman | October 2, 1899 | at the plantation of Thos. H. Ramsford | Homicide | pistol | |
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
Thomas | child of Thomas M Chandler | September 11, 1850 | at Thos M. Chandler's house, and at the old Pottery | Accident | |
Thomas Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | pistol | |
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide | ||
Thomas O'Donald | September 13, 1869 | at Dr. John E. Padgetts | Homicide | pistol | |
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
Thomas Rosseter[?] | August 30, 1852 | at Hamburg SC | Accident | ||
Thomas Styson | June 22, 1856 | at R. M. Fullers | Homicide | hoe | |
Thomas Welheu[?] | June 19, 1868 | at Benjamin Better[?] wheat field on the Columbia & Augusta Rail Road | Accident | ||
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Toby | negro man | July 10, 1844 | near Bauskett Bridge on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Tom | Slave, old negro man | January 12, 1853 | near the residence of Harry Scott | Accident | |
Tom | negro slave | December 18, 1858 | at Chlo Watsons | Homicide | |
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
Tom | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at H. L. Maysons in Beach island | Accident | |
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Unknown | August 30, 1866 | at Fosity[?] Creek ford | Unknown | ||
Unknown | October 10, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | train | |
Uriah Koon | October 16, 1847 | at the house of Col John Hunt | Accident | wagon | |
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
Violet | negro woman (slave) | March 25, 1844 | at John Dinkinses | Suicide | |
W. Brooker Toney | August 12, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | pistol | |
W. T. Mathis | November 11, 1897 | at the Yeldell place | Natural Causes | ||
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
Wade Barronton | October 8, 1860 | at Wade Barrontons Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Wade Medlock | July 12, 1894 | at Benjamin Boatwrights Plantation | Unknown | ||
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Wallace Halloway | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield Court house | Accident | train | |
Warren Kirkland | November 16, 1858 | at Benjamin Bartons | Homicide | ||
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Wesley Weaver[?] | June 15, 1858 | at Mrs Lydia Nevus[?] | Suicide | shotgun | |
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
white man | white man | October 21, 1849 | in the woods near Holsonbakers[?] old fields | Natural Causes | |
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
William | negro man, boy, slave | February 13, 1849 | at R. F. Barretts | Homicide | knife |
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes |