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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Henry Jennings | September 14, 1891 | at the residense of diceased | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Goodman | May 4, 1851 | at or near to William H Adams on little horse Creek | Accident | ||
Henry Ethredge | June 2, 1899 | at the plantation of P.B. Mayson | Accident | ||
Henry Burt | June 21, 1895 | at Henry Burts | Homicide | knife | |
Henry | male slave | July 15, 1858 | at Edgefield C.H. | Homicide | hickory stick |
Henry | negro man | June 3, 1849 | at the house of Mrs Mary Harrison | Accident | |
Henry | negro man Slave | August 21, 1850 | at New Savannah in beach Island | Accident | |
Henry | slave, boy | May 1, 1857 | at Arthur Glovers House, Horns Creek | Accident | |
Hartwell Roper | June 17, 1869 | at the residence of Rev. J.P. Mealing | Natural Causes | ||
Harry Anderson | December 16, 1882 | at Clinton Ward | Homicide | pistol | |
Harry | negro boy | September 9, 1858 | at the residence of the Rev. J. L. Brooks | Accident | |
Harry | slave | December 25, 1858 | at Col Arthur Sinkins[?] | Homicide | knife |
Harry | slave | May 20, 1863 | at Jesse Gomellions | Homicide | knife |
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
Hardy Boulware | January 2, 1862 | at Hardy Boulwares | Homicide | ||
Hampton Weaver | colored | July 17, 1869 | at the house of and on the farm of James T Outz | Accident | shotgun |
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Hammond Frasier | November 6, 1897 | at Trenton S.C. | Homicide | pistol | |
H. P. Church | December 27, 1842 | in the house of C. H. Goodman in the Vilage of Edgefield | Other | ||
Gus West | October 11, 1883 | at Jack Holms | Unknown | ||
Gus Blocker | August 18, 1892 | at the plantion of July Blocker | Homicide | ||
Griffin Mays | November 20, 1897 | at W. H. Pordew | Unknown | pistol | |
Griff Zimmerman | October 9, 1899 | at Johnston Township | Homicide | pistol | |
Green | negro boy | July 23, 1850 | at the house of John Cheatham | Homicide | knife |
Gertrude | infant child | December 1, 1891 | at Edgfield Court house | Accident | |
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
George Washington Crowder | October 19, 1866 | at Grannetville | Accident | ||
George W. Medlock | January 1, 1848 | at the house of Daniel Abby | Natural Causes | ||
George Ross | June 29, 1898 | at Adoms[?] place | Homicide | ||
George Robinson | January 12, 1892 | at the plantation of E. B. Davis | Natural Causes | ||
George Mitchel | June 21, 1881 | at J. R Corleys | Accident | ||
George Low | col | June 6, 1869 | at Sand Bar Ferry | Accident | stems of yellow jasmine |
George Hatcher | freedman | June 19, 1867 | at B. W. Hatchers Mill on Shaws creek | Natural Causes | |
George Delaughter | April 30, 1861 | at the Hamburg Passenger Depot | Accident | train | |
George Bowers | May 26, 1891 | at Kenards bend | Accident | mule | |
Garett Doby | October 11, 1880 | at William Rufus | Natural Causes | ||
Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks | Natural Causes | |
Frank Holson | freedman | January 9, 1867 | at Lee Holson | Homicide | pistol |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Fannie Patton | November 18, 1898 | at Francis Williams house | Accident | ||
Fannie Ford | March 5, 1893 | at Trenton S.C. | Accident | train | |
Ezekiel Thomas | February 4, 1879 | near Johnstons | Accident | train | |
Everett Hook | July 18, 1891 | at the saw Mill of M J Hook | Accident | ||
Eva Blocker | February 11, 1893 | at J. P. Wrights Plantation | Accident | ||
Eunice Hogan | October 26, 1851 | at the house of John Briskey | Homicide | ||
Eugene McCarty | May 11, 1861 | at Edgefield Court house | Homicide | pistol | |
Esther Jeter | April 17, 1893 | at Huiets x Roads | Accident | ||
Ernest Bean | April 6, 1884 | at the Mill of B[?] Hill | Accident |