Edgefield, South Carolina: The Devil's Bargain Murder Trial of 1850

In February 1849, an enslaved sawmill worker named Appling approached his owner with an extraordinary proposal: he would murder Martin Posey's wife Matilda in exchange for a promise of freedom. What followed exposed the brutal mechanics of what historians call "criminal bargains"—informal contracts between enslavers and enslaved people that the legal system barely acknowledged.

Martin Posey, a man of modest origins who married into the wealthy Holmes family, had earned the nickname "The Devil of Montmorenci." Contemporary accounts describe him as having "quite the thirst for power and money, coupled with his inconsideration for everyone but himself." When his father-in-law died in 1847, Posey gained control of Matilda's inheritance through South Carolina's coverture laws. But he wanted more—specifically, he wanted Matilda's teenage sister Eliza and her portion of the Holmes estate.

The murder occurred on a Friday afternoon in February 1849. Matilda was last seen directing workers on the plantation before Martin asked her to check on the dairy door. There, Appling waited. He bludgeoned her to death while Martin, according to trial evidence, "encouraged him from behind." They buried her body in a shallow grave near a spring.

But the "deal" was always a lie. Roughly one month later, workers discovered Appling's decomposing body in neighboring Abbeville County. The coroner's findings revealed death by gunshot—but it was one detail that transformed everything: Appling's hands were still tied together. Martin Posey had simply erased the witness to his crime.

Timeline of Events

-The Martin Posey case unfolded in "Bloody Edgefield," a South Carolina town where 39 percent of all prosecutions involved violent offenses—the highest rate in the state. Violence wasn't exceptional here; it was routine. Historians have called it "the Deadwood of its day."

-1847: Matilda's father dies; his estate is divided among his children

-February 1849: Appling murders Matilda; she is buried in a shallow grave

-Approximately one week later: Searchers discover Matilda's body

-March 1849: Workers find Appling's body with tied hands in Abbeville County

-October 10, 1849: Four-day trial begins at Edgefield County Court House

-October 14, 1849: Jury returns guilty verdicts on both murder counts

-February 10, 1850: Martin Posey executed by hanging

Historical Significance

The Posey case illuminates the impossible position of enslaved people within antebellum legal systems. South Carolina's Negro Act of 1740 prohibited enslaved people from giving sworn testimony in court, especially against white defendants. Any promise Martin Posey made to Appling existed in a legal void—unenforceable, unwitnessable, and ultimately worthless.

Scholars studying this case note that Appling was "neither passively acquiescent nor docile" but entrepreneurial. He demonstrated what historians call "slave agency"—the capacity to negotiate even within brutal constraints. Lacking conventional bargaining chips like money or property, he weaponized the only thing he had: his willingness to commit violence.

The execution drew between 4,000 and 5,000 spectators—more than ten times the village population. The Edgefield Advertiser reported it was a spectacle "which even the oldest inhabitants could not recollect" for its size. That afternoon, the town square descended into what newspapers called "drunken brawls"—violence so normalized that even an execution couldn't proceed without it.

Sources & Further Reading

-This episode draws on scholarly research into antebellum South Carolina's legal system and the intersection of slavery, violence, and criminal law.

Primary Sources:

-Edgefield County Historical Society Walking Tour documentation, which preserves details of the October 1849 trial proceedings and execution

-South Carolina Department of Archives and History records

Secondary Sources:

-"Race and the Law in South Carolina: From Slavery to Jim Crow" - Academic analysis of the Posey

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