Petitioner Nathan Hopkins, "negro slave of one Sophia Shehan," states that he has been arrested "upon the charge of persuading a negro boy slave of said M. McKnett to run away." After an ex parte examination, Hopkins was lodged in the county jail, where he is now unable to make bail. Hopkins explains that he "has been in the employ of the Mistress of said boy for several years acting as foreman and a general overseer," a job he also performed for McKnett's husband "several years anterior to his death." He claims that he can prove his "entire innocence of the charge against him" and asserts that McKnett's slave "left his home of his own will joining in with the general belief and feeling among his fellow servants that he was free and had a right to go where he pleased." Hopkins seeks a speedy trial before a justice of the peace.
Result: Granted.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
