Henrietta Bell petitions that she was born in Virginia "of a free white woman and of a coloured father." When young, she was "run off forcebly" from her mother and sold as a slave in Kentucky. She commenced suit for her freedom in Nashville, but was eventually sold to James Cummins. Said Cummins commenced "an action of false imprisonment "in the name of your oratrix (calling her Henny) against himself ... for the purpose of trying her right to freedom exparta and without giving her a fair trial." Upon learning that she had employed counsel, Cummins "became very anxious to get her out of the possession of Mr. Lloyd D. Addison," with whom she has been staying and who treats her fairly. Bell is afraid Cummins will try to "remove her out of the Jurisdiction of this court and to strange places where she will never more an oportunity of geting her freedom." She is also afraid that Cummins will endanger her life and that of her unborn child. She asks the court to subpoena Cummins and restrain him from removing her, to decree her freedom, and to allow her to remain with Addison until the suit is determined.
Result: Discontinued.
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Repository: Kentucky Division of Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky
