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![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A. G. Leek | February 23, 1859 | at A. G. Leeks Residence | Other | ||
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Benjamin Cockroft | March 18, 1847 | in the woods near the house of Beryman[?] Bledsoe | Accident | ||
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Chaney | negro woman | December 11, 1855 | at the dwelling house of Mrs Randall in the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | |
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
William Bailey | July 19, 1846 | at the House of Samuel C Scott | Homicide | ||
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Nelson Smith | freedman, boy | October 4, 1866 | at Andrew Warts | Homicide | |
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Levi H. McDaniel | March 9, 1859 | at or near the 17 mile Post on the Scotts Ferry Road | Homicide | ||
John Matthews | October 13, 1829 | at the house of William Adams | Other | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
negro man | negro man | April 10, 1850 | near Kilcreases Ferry | Accident | |
John | slave | September 27, 1863 | at the residence of Johnson A Bland | Accident | |
Mary Bright Hanpt[?] | October 6, 1881 | at Bright Hanpt[?] | Unknown | ||
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
infant child | infant child | June 14, 1891 | at Kenny Grave Yard | Accident | |
Abram | slave | October 8, 1860 | at the Residence of H. B. Raborns | Natural Causes | |
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
John McKinny | September 26, 1894 | at W P. Lipfords[?] | Homicide | ||
Martin B. Elam | January 28, 1851 | at Mrs Mary Elams | Other | ||
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
John E. Paul | June 14, 1892 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Thomas Prince | July 31, 1848 | at the Joal of Said District | Natural Causes | ||
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place | Natural Causes | ||
Willie G. Harris | March 25, 1897 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
Polly Vines | April 20, 1892 | at the house of Ben. Holt | Natural Causes | ||
Milledge Fuller | freedman | February 18, 1867 | at John Ransford plantation | Accident | |
James Mitchell | February 18, 1879 | at L D Laudrums | Natural Causes | ||
Pink Williams | October 6, 1898 | at or near Mr E.F. Pickles residence | Homicide | ||
infant child | infant child | April 14, 1895 | at Charley Moors | Homicide | |
Victor | male slave | April 24, 1859 | at A. L. Dearing Plantation | Natural Causes | |
W. W. Miller Sr. | white man | July 10, 1891 | at J M. Mays place | Accident | |
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Henry Parks | September 14, 1895 | at Parksville | Homicide | ||
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Lewis | negro man | March 20, 1846 | at & in the Revd Mr. Brooks Plantation | Accident | |
B. J. Mims | January 20, 1885 | at the Residence of Capt B J Mims | Natural Causes |