Roden T. Crain, administrator of the estate of the late William Crain, states that William Crain placed sixteen "slaves for life" in the hands of William Burdett, now deceased, to bring them from Mississippi to Texas in 1839. William Crain passed away in 1842. The petitioner alleges that Burdett, "intending fraudulently and craftily to injure and defraud" him, transferred title in the slaves to Jesse Burdett, who then transferred the same to Isaac Whitaker. Explaining that Whitaker has removed the slaves from the Brazos to Nacogdoches County, Crain fears Whitaker will sell them "if not restrained by your honors." The petitioner therefore asks the court to order Whitaker to return the sixteen slaves that belong to Crain's estate and to pay ten thousand dollars in damages. He also asks the court to sequester the slaves and to summon Whitaker and the Burdetts. Two years later, Crain filed an amended petition, alleging that Samuel Giles purchased three other slaves from the same lot "in the same colourable and fraudulent manner" as those by Whitaker. He adds Giles, Stephen Sparks, Elizabeth Whitaker, and James H. Durst as defendants.
Result: Partially granted.
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Repository: Nacogdoches County Courthouse, Nacogdoches, Texas
