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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | |
William Prince | July 9, 1851 | at the house of John W Garrett | Accident | ||
Curry | slave | March 17, 1856 | at Mrs Elizabeth Middletons Plantation | Accident | |
Spencer Mays | freedman | November 8, 1866 | at John Buslys | Accident | pistol |
infant | infant | January 24, 1893 | at Clintonwards | Accident | |
Joseph Jay | October 4, 1860 | at Joseph Jays | Accident | horse | |
Albert Brunson | June 26, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Accident | train | |
Charles | negro boy | November 14, 1842 | On Mr Thos Oliver's Plantation, at or near Said Oliver's residence | Accident | |
Sallie Young | December 8, 1890 | at Mr A. F Broadwaters Plantation | Accident | ||
Mary Harrison | September 10, 1894 | at Dornville | Accident | ||
Thomas Rosseter[?] | August 30, 1852 | at Hamburg SC | Accident | ||
infant child | infant child | January 18, 1892 | at the Plantation of L. G. Swearinger | Accident | |
Ed Glover | July 8, 1882 | at Poore House | Accident | ||
Isaac Grimer | December 10, 1868 | at Jacobs Branch on the Spaun Church road | Accident | ||
Charles | negro boy | March 7, 1857 | at Archy Clark residence | Accident | |
Robert Johnston | May 23, 1891 | at Clarks Ferry below bridge on C. & G.[?] R R | Accident | ||
Eldrige Padgett | February 9, 1859 | at Eidson Padgetts | Accident | ||
Jim Coleman | freidman | November 15, 1866 | at the Mackey Place on horse Creek | Accident | |
Adam | negro man Slave, boy | August 3, 1850 | at Vaucluse Factory | Accident | |
Edward Horton | August 7, 1879 | near Wesley Barrs[?] | Accident | sunstroke | |
Elijah Sullivan | April 24, 1898 | at Cow-buel[?] place | Accident | ||
Ora Weaver | February 21, 1891 | at the plantation of D B. H Holfarth[illegible - ink blot] | Accident | ||
John H Webb | January 22, 1882 | at James Webb Residence | Accident | ||
Sarah Lucas | October 30, 1890 | at Mr. M L Holson | Accident | ||
Sherod Holms | October 10, 1884 | at Sherod Holms House | Accident | horse | |
Joseph Ruffington | January 9, 1893 | at Thos O Attaways | Accident | ||
William Lundy | August 28, 1846 | at house of John Rainsford | Accident | ||
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
Louisa | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
George Bowers | May 26, 1891 | at Kenards bend | Accident | mule | |
Emanuel | slave | March 12, 1856 | at Matthew McGraw's plantation | Accident | |
Wallace Halloway | June 25, 1895 | at Edgefield Court house | Accident | train | |
James L. Hill | January 10, 1867 | at James L Hills | Accident | ||
Lousay | November 25, 1860 | at Doct John E. Padgett | Accident | ||
Hampton Weaver | colored | July 17, 1869 | at the house of and on the farm of James T Outz | Accident | shotgun |
Solomon | negro man | June 24, 1844 | near the Mill of George A. McKee on Stevens Creek | Accident | |
Joseph Powel | August 18, 1879 | at [??] | Accident | ||
Unknown | October 10, 1869 | at Graniteville | Accident | train | |
James Edward Settle | boy | March 9, 1884 | on Henry Hill Plantation | Accident | |
Willis Cumings | child | October 10, 1890 | at C. M. Lanhams | Accident | |
Rachiel Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
Sis Bonham | child | February 18, 1894 | at M.B. Davenports | Accident | |
Fannie Ford | March 5, 1893 | at Trenton S.C. | Accident | train | |
John Scott | May 10, 1851 | at Vaucluse[?] Factory | Accident | horse | |
Simon | slaves | March 4, 1860 | at the mill Pond of W. Glover on mill Creek | Accident | boat |
Minnie Johnson | December 22, 1892 | at John Bettis plantation | Accident | ||
Tom Waldrum | colored man (Free) | January 20, 1857 | in the woods near Mr Avory Franklins | Accident | |
Enoch Douglass | August 11, 1879 | near Wesly Barrs on the rail road | Accident | ||
Billy | November 28, 1857 | at the South Carolina Rail Road | Accident | wagon |