Stephen Ridgley seeks judgment for one thousand dollars, the value of his twenty-four-year-old mulatto slave named Celeste. Ridgley alleges that the Steamboat Reindeer did "transport and carry" Celeste from St. Louis to Illinois "without the consent or permission of said plaintiff," whereby said steamboat "became liable to pay" Celeste's value to him. Documents in the court record suggest that Celeste, "a handsome looking girl," might have been sold for $1500-2000 as a "mistress" on the New Orleans market. Steamboat officials contend that Ridgley allowed Celeste to live with her mother, a free woman of color, and to "direct and control her own movements" while working "as a chambermaid on steamboats running to and touching at various points in the State of Illinois."
Result: Granted; appealed; affirmed.
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Repository: Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri
