Robert McCombs and Gideon Thompson ask for a "writ of Injunction to stop the execution" of a judgment that orders them to pay the defendant, James Allen, $500 for a slave named Jane. They report that on 2 November 1820 they gave Allen two notes, each for $250, "in consideration of the purchase of a negro woman slave, named Jane." Revealing that Allen represented "that said woman slave had runaway from her master who was about to move out of the state," they further note that "there never was any delivery of said slave, nor was any bill of sale given." They argue that "on the day previous to the purchase of said slave, she was drowned in a mill-pond" and that Allen "artfully concealed from said Complainants such facts and circumstances within his knowledge." The petitioners believe that the day before the sale Allen "made the search, he found not far from the pond the horse tied, which said negro slave had ridden away, and also that he saw distinct impressions or tracts of the said slaves feet on the bank of the pond, going in towards the same." Accusing Allen of "various tricks, devices, falsehoods and subterfuges," they ask that he be summoned to answer their charges.
Result: Injunction granted; appealed; injunction dismissed.
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
