Peter Bird, by his fortunate "passing the State House in Raleigh," was able to foil the designs of "divers men" who were engaged in robbing "the Treasury Office as well as all the other offices in the State House." Bird, "a negroe man Slave the property of John Haywood," believes he "only acted the part of an honest man in making the discovery." He further notes that "the General Assembly would have rewarded a white man for such an essential service by a large sum in Cash." Hoping "to be set free from his master as a reward he has rendered the state," the petitioner avows that "to a man in Slavery, no reward can be so valuable as ... being emancipated."
Result: Committee recommends bill of emancipation.
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
