William Gilliam, "a wholesale dealer in China, Glass & Queensware," asks the court to order Mary Bransford to reimburse him for "articles stolen by" Mary's slave, Jordan, while he was hired by Gilliam. He maintains that when he hired Jordan in March 1839 through Mary's son and agent, L. M. Bransford, he specified that "it was of the utmost importance to him to have a perfectly honest servant." Jordan, however, "was detected in stealing from the store, for which offence Your Orator had him put in Jail." Gilliam claims that Jordan stole "upwards of" twenty china sets and that "he had accomplices selling for him all the time he was with Your Orator." The petitioner accuses Bransford of concealing Jordan's reputation as "a noted thief," who stole from a previous employer and who "had been turned out of the church for his conduct." Bransford has won a judgment to recover Jordan's hire, which Gilliam refuses to pay as "his losses are of greater amount than the hire of the negro." He asks that the defendant be enjoined from collecting the judgment and that she pay him "the value of the goods stolen by her aforesaid dishonest slave."
Result: Partially granted; denied; appealed; affirmed.
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
