Joseph T. Murphy charges that Joseph Reid illegally possesses eight slaves, who are the lawful property of the petitioner. Murphy informs the court that Samuel Dunn sold Polly, her six children, and a twelve-year-old boy named Bluford to Joseph Reid in 1856. He relates that Reid prepared a "bond of redemption" that gave Dunn the right to redeem the slaves when Dunn paid Reid a specific sum of money. The petitioner avows that he bought said bond of redemption from Dunn and paid Joseph Reid the amount of money due to him under the terms of the original bond. Murphy has since demanded that Reid surrender Polly and the other slaves to him, but Reid has refused. Joseph T. Murphy asks the court to compel Joseph Reid to surrender Polly, her children, and Bluford to him.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina