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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ransom Hollaway | May 14, 1862 | at Ransom Holaways | Accident | lightning | |
Hampton Weaver | colored | July 17, 1869 | at the house of and on the farm of James T Outz | Accident | shotgun |
Willie Glover | July 26, 1892 | at Lark Glovers Plantation | Accident | mule | |
Richard | negro boy Slave | September 9, 1850 | at Thomas Garretts | Accident | machinery |
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 | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
George Bowers | May 26, 1891 | at Kenards bend | Accident | mule | |
Jack | negro boy | May 14, 1852 | at the house of H. W. Posey | Accident | |
Dave | negro man Slave | March 16, 1849 | at Kilcrease's Ferry | Accident | boat |
Wallace Halloway | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield Court house | Accident | train | |
Seware[?] Stuart | November 4, 1893 | at J.[?] E. Griffiths | Accident | ||
Unknown | October 10, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | train | |
Hugh Duffey Sr. | August 26, 1855 | at Bethany Church | Accident | horse | |
Robert Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | 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 | ||
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
Joseph Jay | October 4, 1860 | at Joseph Jays | Accident | horse | |
Milton Barter[?] | youth | August 24, 1849 | at Capt. Andrew J Hammonds Mills | Accident | |
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Blanchy Wilson | November 30, 1893 | on the plantation of Robert Hastings | Accident | ||
Callen O'Neall | November 11, 1855 | at Luke Havirds[?] | Accident | ||
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Belaus[Velaus?] | slave, boy | March 30, 1863 | at Robert Smiths | Accident | |
Uriah Koon | October 16, 1847 | at the house of Col John Hunt | Accident | wagon | |
Lizzie Darian | child | November 21, 1894 | at Waldo Richardsons | Accident | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Curry | slave | March 17, 1856 | at Mrs Elizabeth Middletons Plantation | Accident | |
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Elleck | free boy | December 13, 1866 | at Johnathan Gregorys | Accident | |
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Edward Horton | August 7, 1879 | near Wesley Barrs[?] | Accident | sunstroke | |
John Whitlock | boy | September 8, 1869 | at Grainteville | Accident | |
Sallie Young | December 8, 1890 | at Mr A. F Broadwaters Plantation | Accident | ||
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | 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 | |
infant child | infant child | January 18, 1892 | at the Plantation of L. G. Swearinger | Accident | |
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Richard | negroe Boy | April 21, 1863 | in the District of Edgefield | Accident | train |
Lucy Roper | June 29, 1899 | on the pantation of S.W. Miller | Accident | lightning | |
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident |