August 2017 Auction Ends Thursday, August 24th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/24/2017
Court copy of a Texas lawsuit regarding the ownership of a slave, named only as the ''Negro Jim''. Dated 9 October 1858 from McLennon County, Texas, lengthy document transcribes the jury instructions, declares the final verdict for the defendant and also summarizes the plaintiff's appeal as well as court costs. Document reads in part, ''...if the Jury should come to the conclusion from the evidence that said bill of sale was intended by the parties thereto as a mortgage and not an absolute sale which it purports upon its face to be they will find by their verdict the several sums of money...for the payment of which said negro was mortgaged; They will also find the value of the time of said negro during the time he was in Puckett's possession...N.W. Battle / Judge &c.'' When the Civil War broke out, Judge Nicholas W. Battle served as Lt. Col. in the 30th Texas Cavalry, and also ruled shortly before the war that a freed black man's contract to sell himself into slavery was void ab initio. Document runs 13pp. on 13 separate sheets of legal paper measuring 7.75'' x 12.5''. Punch holes at top and some chipping, overall in very good condition.
Texas Court Document From 1858 Regarding Ownership of a Slave -- Court Presided Over by Judge Nicholas W. Battle, Who Ruled That a Freed Black Man Could Not Sell Himself Into Slavery
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