Patrick Stuart seeks the return of his slave Green. Stuart relates that he bought "a negro boy named Lewis" on 2 April 1842 from John Sanders. In July 1842, Sanders told Stuart that "he had a Prospect of making Some disposition of Lewis that would be advantageous ... but was not certain whether it could be accomplished." He offered "a boy named Green" as a pledge for the return of Lewis "or a boy of equal value." Stuart agreed. Sanders never returned Lewis, so Stuart kept Green until John Mills claimed prior ownership. Operating "under a mistake of the facts and his rights," Stuart gave up Green. He attests that he later discovered that Mills's claim was fraudulent and sued to recover Green. He won in the Sumner County circuit court, but Mills appealed. The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case on the grounds that Stuart should have sued in equity. Stuart asks the chancery court "to take jurisdiction of his Case" and declare that "the Said act of Surrender of Possession by him" had been "induced by the fraud & misrepresentation of Deft Mills." Stuart also asks the court to compel Mills to return Green.
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
