Simon Tufts, "formerly an officer in the Service of the State," recounts that he purchased in 1786 an "infirm old negro wench formerly the Property of one Malcolm Brown" from the commissioners of confiscated estates, for which he signed a note for £450 sterling plus interest. Tufts asserts that he made said purchase with the assurance that he would be given a position in "Public Employment with a moderate salary." Although appointed supervisor of public buildings on Sullivans Island at a salary of fifty pounds sterling a year, Tufts reveals that he was discharged "from his Trust" shortly thereafter. The petitioner laments that Brown's estate "has been lately restored to him" and that he "holds your Petitioners Bond which with the Increase of Interest amounts at this day to the enormous Sum of Six hundred and ten Pounds sterling." Unable to pay his note, Tufts seeks relief on the grounds that the "Property at no time [was] worth a twentieth Part thereof."
Result: Referred to committee.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
