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![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Elick Youngblood | child | March 21, 1881 | at S[?] R Warren | Homicide | |
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Lona May Hamilton | child | October 18, 1893 | at or near Longmires PO[?] | Natural Causes | |
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
Solomon | negro man | June 24, 1844 | near the Mill of George A. McKee on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Edward | slave, boy | October 22, 1857 | at the residence of Wm Miller | Natural Causes | |
Caroline Coleman | July 25, 1893 | at Brisel[?] Blacks Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Doublin | male slave, boy | April 5, 1857 | at the Residence of Mrs Delila Philips | Natural Causes | |
Charles | slave | July 31, 1851 | at the house of John M. Norris Esqr in Edgefield | Accident | |
Unknown | April 11, 1860 | at or near W.J. Walkers | Unknown | ||
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Presley Wise | July 11, 1891 | at D W. Padgetts plantation | Homicide | ||
Bettie Willis | March 24, 1892 | at the Croker place the home of Miss Bettie Willis | Natural Causes | ||
Howard Gale | June 13, 1879 | at Jacksons Holinns[?] Mill | Accident | ||
Joe Elam | February 16, 1882 | at Nicholson premises | Natural Causes | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Al White | October 12, 1898 | at Mundy[?] Place | Homicide | ||
Lucious Perry | November 8, 1891 | at the plantation of Ben Boatwright | Homicide | ||
Joshua | negro man slave | June 26, 1860 | at Harmon Gallman | Unknown | |
Blassingame Wise | April 27, 1848 | at or near the Negro quarter of Mrs Wiley Glover, on Savannah River | Suicide | ||
Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring | Natural Causes | ||
Eddie Watson | Infant | April 25, 1892 | at Bob Stevens | Natural Causes | |
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
Tilman Attaway | April 14, 1849 | at the corner of the Oharer[?] old field | Accident | ||
Lucius Walker | October 5, 1869 | at James Doziers plantation | Accident | ||
Susan Churchwell | October 6, 1884 | at Allen Simkins House | Unknown | ||
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Rufus Harling | September 16, 1897 | at Clarks Hill | Homicide | ||
Sam | negro, slave | September 18, 1846 | at the residence of Mrs Nancy Delaughter | Natural Causes | |
Henry Padget | freedman | November 14, 1866 | at Wm Padgets premises on Clouds Creek | Homicide | |
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident | ||
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Rhoda | female slave | July 4, 1857 | at Dorn's[?] Mill | Natural Causes | |
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
A. R. Steel | girl child | August 28, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Selena Allen | child, boy, baby | December 12, 1890 | at Mrs Blacks[?] Plantation | Accident | |
Joseph Shaw | July 26, 1858 | at the residence of John H Shaw near Edgefield C.H. | Accident | ||
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident | ||
Robert W. Kincade | December 27, 1845 | at the house of Baley[?] Corley | Natural Causes | ||
infant child | infant child | November 23, 1891 | at the plantation of Willis Owdom[?] | Accident | |
Kenneth Martor[?] | January 15, 1852 | at Thomas Samar's[?] Mills on horse creek | Accident | ||
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
Anderson B. Branham | January 6, 1892 | at the plantation of M. C. Parker | Unknown | ||
Peyton Bird | colored | September 29, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Natural Causes | |
Infant Boy Child | Infant Boy Child | June 18, 1883 | at Marsh Grobe Yard | Accident |