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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
William | negro man, boy, slave | February 13, 1849 | at R. F. Barretts | Homicide | knife |
infant child | infant child | December 14, 1877 | at Dr. K N Hudsons plantation | Homicide | |
Whit Terry | October 19, 1894 | J.K. Corleys Place | Homicide | ||
Isham Glover | August 9, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Hammond Frasier | November 6, 1897 | at Trenton S.C. | Homicide | pistol | |
James Booth | August 23, 1878 | at E. C. House | Homicide | ||
Willie Toney | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Jacob Horn | February 25, 1866 | at the hous of Jacob Horns | Homicide | ||
Andrew Trapp | December 4, 1869 | near Trapps Mills | Homicide | knife | |
Isham Glover | August 10, 1892 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | ||
Samuel Posey | October 21, 1860 | at P. B. McDaniels | Homicide | pistol | |
Bill King | August 9, 1881 | at H C Kings Residence | Homicide | hoe | |
Thomas Glover | August 2, 1893 | at Bill Werk[?] Residence | Homicide | ||
Peter | negro man | June 16, 1838 | at a Mr. Azariah[?] Abneys | Homicide | stick |
Robert Parks | September 27, 1894 | at Parkville | Homicide | lick | |
Apling | negro man | April 5, 1849 | in the woods in said district near the Lexington line on a branch of McGier Creek | Homicide | |
Will Collens | October 20, 1894 | at Gaines SC | Homicide | ||
Prophet Burt | freedman | December 29, 1866 | at E.N. Troys | Homicide | knife |
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
Daniel | slave, boy | May 27, 1862 | at John H. Fair | Homicide | shotgun |
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 | |
Jesse Weatherford | September 4, 1849 | at the plantation of Mrs R Blaylock | Homicide | shotgun | |
Robert J. Butler | September 15, 1864 | at Hamburg | Homicide | ||
Henry Burt | June 21, 1895 | at Henry Burts | Homicide | knife | |
Michael Long | April 17, 1849 | at the house of Michael Long | Homicide | shotgun | |
Julia Mundy | June 17, 1881 | at Jas H Banknight | Homicide | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Julia Van | June 20, 1892 | at the plantation of Mr Joe Thurmond | Homicide | ||
Moses Blalock | May 19, 1882 | on the Plantation of W G McDavid | Homicide | ||
James Bledsoe | May 15, 1893 | at Dr D.P. Lalsrones[?] Residence | Homicide | pistol | |
Dave Parkman | December 16, 1897 | at Cheatham place | Homicide | pistol | |
Cesar | Negro, negro boy | July 7, 1843 | at the house of Elijah Watson | Homicide | |
William Martin | May 24, 1891 | on the premises of W. E. Friday | Homicide | pistol | |
Jno. C Swearingin | April 24, 1895 | at Edgefield CH | Homicide | ||
Lucious Perry | November 8, 1891 | at the plantation of Ben Boatwright | Homicide | ||
Namro | negro man | August 11, 1844 | at the house of Rob King Esqr | Homicide | club or stick |
Alfred Hollingsworth | October 10, 1898 | at David Strothers place | Homicide | razor | |
John Agner | December 26, 1883 | at Mr. John Agner's | Homicide | knife | |
Mary Grace Aldrich | infant child | August 11, 1856 | at Graniteville | Homicide | |
Benjamin F. Jones | March 24, 1845 | at W B Griffins | Homicide | shotgun | |
Jim McKie | October 26, 1898 | near John starks | Homicide | ||
James Thomas | colored | July 20, 1869 | at Liberty Hill County | Homicide | |
Wallace E. Bland | July 4, 1880 | at Edgefield C. House | Homicide | ||
Albert Jones | April 29, 1885 | at Pickens Reynolds house | Homicide | ||
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
Lewis Bartie | July 26, 1864 | at Mount Zion Church | Homicide | shotgun | |
John Webb | March 26, 1899 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Henry | male slave | July 15, 1858 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | hickory stick |
Elijah Reynolds | April 11, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | pistol |