{"petition":[{"petition_analysis_number":"21183003","petition_url":"https:\/\/dlas.uncg.edu\/petitions\/petition\/21183003","state":"Missouri","county":"St. Louis","location_type":"County","file_day":26,"file_month":5,"file_year":1830,"filing_court":"Circuit","end_day":17,"end_month":6,"end_year":1833,"ending_court":"Appellate","result":"petition granted; plea of trespass filed, discontinued against James Duncan, amended, denied; motion for new trial denied, appealed, reversed and remanded","enslaved_count":2,"fpoc_count":0,"total_people_count":7,"repository":"Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri","abstract":"Ralph, \"a man of colour,\" relates that James Duncan hired him out in Illinois and the Michigan Territory.  He further reveals that he sued Duncan for his freedom in Illinois in 1827; however, the court dismissed the suit because Coleman Duncan was Ralph's actual owner.  Ralph reports that Coleman Duncan fled the state before a suit could be filed against him and that \"James Duncan kidnapped your petitioner & brought him to St. Louis.\"  Ralph fears that \"it is the intention of said James & Coleman to take your petitioner to some place where the fact of his freedom is unknown & sell him for a slave.\"  He therefore prays that \"he may be permitted to sue as a poor person to establish his freedom\" and that he may be assigned counsel and \"that such order may be made ... in his behalf as his personal safety requires.\"","subjects":[{"subject":"owner(s)\/citizens manumit\/free slave"},{"subject":"Sues for freedom (enslaved)"},{"subject":"Virtually free (enslaved)"},{"subject":"Jails\/Workhouses"},{"subject":"Non-plantation\/Non-household work (enslaved)"},{"subject":"Skills (enslaved)"},{"subject":"Freedom seekers"},{"subject":"Assault"},{"subject":"Fear of enslavement"}]}]}