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![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Larkin Swearengen | April 1, 1852 | at the hous of Larkin Swearengen | Suicide | razor | |
Andrew | slave | September 3, 1850 | at A.P. Butlers plantation | Homicide | rail |
Lewis Moore | November 30, 1891 | at the plantation of Robert Smith | Homicide | pocket knife | |
William Humphry | January 4, 1894 | at Etheridge Bridge | Accident | pocket knife | |
John Crawford | June 25, 1853 | at the house of John Crawford | Suicide | pocket knife | |
Stephen Stalmaker | August 30, 1850 | at J.M.C. Freeland's | Homicide | plank | |
Elijah Reynolds | April 11, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | pistol | |
Frank Holson | freedman | January 9, 1867 | at Lee Holson | Homicide | pistol |
Eldred Glover | March 2, 1852 | at the house of John Doby | Homicide | pistol | |
Lewis | negro man, boy | March 14, 1861 | at Charles Hammonds Brickyard | Homicide | pistol |
Arthur Morris | June 20, 1898 | at M. W Clarks | Homicide | pistol | |
Keal Johnson | colourd man | October 20, 1866 | at J.M. Proctors Residence | Homicide | pistol |
Carey Ashley | October 11, 1879 | at J W Wises[?] plantation | Homicide | pistol | |
Thomas Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | pistol | |
James Ramsey | December 12, 1869 | at the residence of Andrew Ramsay Sr | Homicide | pistol | |
Samuel Posey | October 21, 1860 | at P. B. McDaniels | Homicide | pistol | |
Isah Zimmerman | December 26, 1881 | at the Residence of W F Ste[?]eies | Accident | pistol | |
Lizzie Carson | January 29, 1892 | at John J Carson Coleman Township | Suicide | pistol | |
W. Brooker Toney | August 12, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | pistol | |
Yancy Hardy | December 31, 1877 | at Dr. GJ[?] Butlers Plantation | Homicide | pistol | |
Allen Smith | Freedman | January 19, 1867 | at S.B. Chappells Residence | Homicide | pistol |
Thomas O'Donald | September 13, 1869 | at Dr. John E. Padgetts | Homicide | pistol | |
Dave Parkman | December 16, 1897 | at Cheatham place | Homicide | pistol | |
Charles S. Harrison | November 25, 1878 | at E.C. House | Accident | pistol | |
William Martin | May 24, 1891 | on the premises of W. E. Friday | Homicide | pistol | |
J. D. Ouzts | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield | Homicide | pistol | |
Darling Willis | March 4, 1859 | at Wade Holeston warter | Suicide | pistol | |
Griff Zimmerman | October 9, 1899 | at Johnston Township | Homicide | pistol | |
Ben Lowman | September 14, 1894 | at W.[?] L. Rawls Mills | Homicide | pistol | |
Edmond Sharpton | December 20, 1866 | at the House of Mrs J.P. Brewer | Homicide | pistol | |
Wily Royal | January 7, 1895 | at J.S. Hancocks | Accident | pistol | |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
Henry Mobley | December 11, 1899 | at Johnston | Homicide | pistol | |
Johnson Peterson | March 9, 1892 | at Deny[?] S.C. | Homicide | pistol | |
Hammond Frasier | November 6, 1897 | at Trenton S.C. | Homicide | pistol | |
Isaac Boseley | July 5, 1880 | at Ridge Spring | Homicide | pistol | |
Eugene McCarty | May 11, 1861 | at Edgefield Court house | Homicide | pistol | |
John E. Elsmore | November 28, 1869 | at the house of John E. Elsmore | Homicide | pistol | |
William Cloud | July 8, 1851 | at the Spaun[?] Hotel | Homicide | pistol | |
Harry Anderson | December 16, 1882 | at Clinton Ward | Homicide | pistol | |
James Bledsoe | May 15, 1893 | at Dr D.P. Lalsrones[?] Residence | Homicide | pistol | |
Griffin Mays | November 20, 1897 | at W. H. Pordew | Unknown | pistol | |
J. H. Christian | July 21, 1856 | in the village of Edgefield in Room No 11, in B. J. Ryans Hotel | Homicide | pistol | |
Stanmore B. Chappell | January 19, 1867 | at S.B. Chappells Residence | Homicide | pistol | |
Teague Tillman | October 2, 1899 | at the plantation of Thos. H. Ramsford | Homicide | pistol | |
James S. Aiton | June 19, 1893 | at J.S. Aiton deceased | Suicide | pistol | |
George Bowers | May 26, 1891 | at Kenards bend | Accident | mule | |
Willie Glover | July 26, 1892 | at Lark Glovers Plantation | Accident | mule | |
Richard | negro boy Slave | September 9, 1850 | at Thomas Garretts | Accident | machinery |
Ransom Hollaway | May 14, 1862 | at Ransom Holaways | Accident | lightning |