Attorney Thomas Wigfall seeks the return of three slaves belonging to him and John Miller. Wigfall reminds the court that Eliza Prince and her next friend, Edwin Prince, recovered alimony from her husband, John Prince. In court John Prince "set up a claim" to three slaves: Jemima Jones and her two sons, Edward and Samuel and the slaves "have been unlawfully taken from Your Orator by virtue of a process issuing from this honorable Court." Wigfall reports that the sheriff has confiscated them, imprisoning them in the "Common Jail for Charleston District," and has advertised them for sale. The petitioner states that he bought Jemima, Samuel, and Jemima's daughter Harriet, "who has since died," from John Prince in 1827; Jemima's son Edward belongs to John Miller, Wigfall's client. Wigfall asks the court to issue an injunction to stop the sale and to return the slaves to him. The case was dismissed citing that "the object of the purchase was the Quasi emancipation of the slaves." Wigfall stated, "In consequence of the Law prohibiting emancipation, it was necessary to evade the Law in this manner, and to guard and protect these negroes from (by any accident) falling into the hands of other parties."
Result: Partially granted.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
