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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lucius Walker | October 5, 1869 | at James Doziers plantation | Accident | ||
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
Fannie Ford | March 5, 1893 | at Trenton S.C. | Accident | train | |
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
Joseph Jay | October 4, 1860 | at Joseph Jays | Accident | horse | |
William Humphry | January 4, 1894 | at Etheridge Bridge | Accident | pocket knife | |
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Isaac | negro man | December 1, 1856 | at a point on the South Carolina Rail Road [?] Brooks Mill creek | Accident | train |
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Kenneth Martor[?] | January 15, 1852 | at Thomas Samar's[?] Mills on horse creek | Accident | ||
Uriah Koon | October 16, 1847 | at the house of Col John Hunt | Accident | wagon | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident | ||
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
William Harlin | February 19, 1856 | at a new place sitting by Mr James Swearingem(Jr) on the Akien Road | Accident | ||
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Albert Brunson | June 26, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Accident | train | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Edward Horton | August 7, 1879 | near Wesley Barrs[?] | Accident | sunstroke | |
Allen Bauknight | freedman | June 11, 1866 | at William Bauknights | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Louisa Wooden | October 13, 1893 | at Mose Woden | Accident | ||
Thomas Rosseter[?] | August 30, 1852 | at Hamburg SC | Accident | ||
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Isaac Grimer | December 10, 1868 | at Jacobs Branch on the Spaun Church road | Accident | ||
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
Robert Johnston | May 23, 1891 | at Clarks Ferry below bridge on C. & G.[?] R R | Accident | ||
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Hampton Weaver | colored | July 17, 1869 | at the house of and on the farm of James T Outz | Accident | shotgun |
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
Peter | Negro man | December 30, 1859 | at the Plantation of Mr Wm Bunch | Accident | |
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Wily Royal | January 7, 1895 | at J.S. Hancocks | Accident | pistol | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
Sherod Holms | October 10, 1884 | at Sherod Holms House | Accident | horse | |
Cap Bryan | February 25, 1893 | at the plantation of Mrs Doziers | Accident | ||
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident |