Ann Matilda Mason joins her husband Joseph in seeking compensation for her twenty-two-year-old slave named Jim, who "was shot in ... jail while in the custody of [the] sheriff." The Masons recount that the sheriff seized Jim "on a charge of Rape" and that he was "indicted for said crime of Rape." They further represent, however, that "before said negro Jim was tried on the charge in the indictment and proceedings mentioned said negro Jim was shot" and died immediately thereafter. The petitioners "insist that the property of the citizens should be protected while in the hands of the officers and agents of the State on a charge of having committed crime and if by neglect or otherwise the property is destroyed before the guilt is proved the Justice of the State may be addressed to obtain remuneration for the loss." They therefore "hope and believe that you will pass an act giving to said Ann Matilda the value of said negro Jim."
Result: Committee recommends rejection.
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Repository: Texas State Library-Archives Division, Austin, Texas
