Elsa Hicks, "a Mulatto Girl aged about twenty one years," claims that James Mitchell and S. Burrell illegally detain her in slavery. Hicks was born in Virginia and owned by Mitchell, "who acquired her by marriage." In 1834, Mitchell took Hicks to the Territory of Wisconsin, where he held her as a slave for six years, contrary to a United States ordinance of 1787. Mitchell next brought her to St. Louis and promptly hired her out to Edward Gay. Mitchell's brother-in-law, S. Burrell, now holds Hicks in his possession and threatens to move her outside the jurisdiction of the court. She asks permission to sue for her freedom as a poor person.
Result: Petition granted; plea of trespass filed.
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Repository: Civil Courts Building, St. Louis, Missouri
