Edward R. Waddey, appointed by the Governor of Virginia to receive "certain fugitives from the justice of this state, who had fled to New York," represents that the apprehension of the runaway slaves, who had stolen a whaling boat in Northampton County, was a costly venture. He reports that, despite a proclamation by the Governor of New York requiring officers to apprehend the fugitives, the officials "could not be got to exert themselves unless your petitioner would pay them for their services; which they valued very high in consequence of the great odium which any of them must incur by being engaged in the apprehension of slaves." Waddey attests that he expended $2,720 of his own money in carrying out his task; for five of the slaves returned, he received only $975 from their Virginia owners, leaving a debt of $1,745. He reports that he brought back a total of nine slaves, but while in the North he was "actually incarcerated within the walls of the [New York] City Jail." The petitioner asserts that he "went to New York, as the agent of the state, under the expectation that he would be liberally compensated for his trouble & his expences refunded to him, as he still believes he has a right to do." Waddey therefore prays "that the legislature will pass a law appropriating that sum [$1745] to him."
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
