John Hinkle states that "sometime in the month of July 1817" he "contracted with one Van Swearingen ... for a negro man (then his property) for the sum of six hundred dollars." Hinkle reveals that "Swearingen refused to take less than 600$," and "your orator observed that as he wanted a good fellow he supposed he must acquiese & accordingly the bargain was closed." Based on the "declarations & recommendations of said Swearingen," the petitioner admits that he "did not for a moment suppose that [the slave] was not perfectly sound in all respects." However, Hinkle contends that Swearingen "committed a gross fraud on your orator." He alleges that the slave Tom arrived at his house "full of pain & disease," adding that "sometime in the month of October last ... he was compelled to lay up in bed being unable to walk & so continued untill the 9th of February 1808 when he died." Charging that his "family was put to great inconvenience in nursing and attending upon the slave for several months & were obliged to lift him from place to place he being unable to walk," Hinkle prays that the judgment obtained by Swearingen for nonpayment "be enjoined."
Result: Partially granted; injunction dissolved; dismissed.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
