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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
Isham Glover | August 10, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Peter | negro man | June 16, 1838 | at a Mr. Azariah[?] Abneys | Homicide | stick |
Lewis Bartie | July 26, 1864 | at Mount Zion Church | Homicide | shotgun | |
John Webb | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Bill King | August 9, 1881 | at H C Kings Residence | Homicide | hoe | |
Luther Sullivan | October 26, 1898 | near John Stuarts | Homicide | ||
Edmund Brown | December 24, 1853 | at the house of Wm Merchantile[?] | Homicide | ||
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Lewis | negro man, boy | March 14, 1861 | at Charles Hammonds Brickyard | Homicide | pistol |
Teague Tillman | October 2, 1899 | at the plantation of Thos. H. Ramsford | Homicide | pistol | |
Scipio | slave | April 1, 1862 | at E. J. Youngbloods | Homicide | hatchet |
Louisa Laudon | October 11, 1869 | at Dorns Steam Mills near Rocky Creek | Homicide | knife | |
Dave Parkman | December 16, 1897 | at Cheatham place | Homicide | pistol | |
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
William Martin | May 24, 1891 | on the premises of W. E. Friday | Homicide | pistol | |
John David Twiggs | September 15, 1864 | in Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Charles Cobb | March 13, 1893 | at or near Johnston | Homicide | umbrella | |
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
Charles M. Creswell | August 5, 1869 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Michael Long | April 17, 1849 | at the house of Michael Long | Homicide | shotgun | |
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
James Ramsey | December 12, 1869 | at the residence of Andrew Ramsay Sr | Homicide | pistol | |
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Lewis Moore | November 30, 1891 | at the plantation of Robert Smith | Homicide | pocket knife | |
John Agner | December 26, 1883 | at Mr. John Agner's | Homicide | knife | |
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
Benjamin F. Jones | March 24, 1845 | at W B Griffins | Homicide | shotgun | |
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
Thomas O'Donald | September 13, 1869 | at Dr. John E. Padgetts | Homicide | pistol | |
Lucious Perry | November 8, 1891 | at the plantation of Ben Boatwright | Homicide | ||
Arthur Morris | June 20, 1898 | at M. W Clarks | Homicide | pistol | |
Alfred Hollingsworth | October 10, 1898 | at David Strothers place | Homicide | razor | |
Harry | slave | May 20, 1863 | at Jesse Gomellions | Homicide | knife |
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
Mahlon Jones | December 25, 1891 | at Landrams Farm | Homicide | ||
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
Bridgett Etheridge | June 26, 1893 | at John Etheridges Residence | Homicide | hoe | |
Henry | male slave | July 15, 1858 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | hickory stick |
Elijah Reynolds | April 11, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | pistol | |
Alice Adkinson | October 18, 1898 | at Republican Church | Homicide | ||
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
William Cloud | July 8, 1851 | at the Spaun[?] Hotel | Homicide | pistol | |
Presley Wise | July 11, 1891 | at D W. Padgetts plantation | Homicide |