Melite Auty, a free woman of color and the wife of Auguste Metoyer who joins her in the suit, seeks substantial compensation from Baptiste Adlé, for the illegal seizure and use of her land and slaves for a period of more than six years. Melite Auty Metoyer represents that, in 1844, her land and fourteen slaves were seized and sold to Baptiste Adlé on a writ of “fieri facias” issuing from a suit filed by Adlé against her husband. The property remained in Adlé’s possession until the end of 1850, at which time she recovered it with the exception of a slave who had died under Adlé’s watch and a “mansion house” torn down and never rebuilt. Melite charges that the seizure and sale of her property was illegal because she was made liable for her husband’s debts. She therefore claims that Adlé must be made to pay for the use of her land and slaves, and for damages suffered. She prays for a judgment against Adlé in the sum of $19,440 to cover the death of a slave and the hires of thirteen others for more than six years, the destruction of the house that stood on the land held by Adlé, and the loss of a portion of her cotton and corn crops due to insufficient labor to cultivate it. She asks for a trial by jury.
Result: Granted; rescinded and set aside.
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Repository: Natchitoches Parish Courthouse, Natchitoches, Louisiana
