"The Board of the Mayor & Aldermen" of Memphis "represent to the Legislature that there are on an average of from eight to ten runaway slaves confined in the Jail of Shelby County & that their health is impaired by close confinement and a heavy tax imposed on their owners for their expenses." Of the opinion that "more runaways concentrate at this point than any other in the state," the three petitioners seek "the privilege of taking possession of the runaway slaves taken up in Shelby County and working them in a chained gang upon the streets, the Corporation [Memphis City] furnishing a safe and comfortable prison for their safekeeping."
Result: Referred to committee.
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
