Margaret, Henry, and Sally, "persons of colour," represent that they are the infant children of Jane, who has also instituted a suit for freedom. They inform the court that Jane's owner, Colonel Richard B. Dallam, freed Jane and that she lived as a free woman for ten to fifteen years in the same town and neighborhood as her former master. The petitioners assert that they were born after the date of Jane's manumission. They further reveal that William Dallam, son of the late Col. Richard Dallam, recently brought them and their mother to St. Louis, claiming them as his slaves. The children allege that Dallam is "making preparations to carry off your petitioners to the South beyond the reach of assistance & where it will be impossble for them to assert thier right to freedom." They therefore "pray that they may severally be permitted to sue as poor persons" by their next friend George Brown, and "that your honour will assign them counsel to prosecute their suits for freedom."
Result: Petition granted; separate pleas of trespass filed for margaret, henry, and sally vs. william dallam.
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Repository: Civil Courts Building, St. Louis, Missouri
