In the summer of 1850, Mississippi resident F. P. Redman purchased a slave named John in Richmond for six hundred dollars and began the journey home. Upon reaching Tarborough, North Carolina, however, John absconded and made his way to Spotsylvania County, where he was born. There, he committed a felony, was caught, and convicted by the county court. The court "commuted his punishment to transportation." Redman sought compensation from the State Auditor's Office, but the auditor ruled against him--the slave was not a resident of the state at the time he had committed the crime. Redman now asks the legislature for $550. How, he asks, can the state "take from him his property for public good" without compensation?
Result: Bill ordered.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
