During work on a new courthouse in Wythe County, James Toncray's slave named Henry stopped several times at Peyton Wilcox's farm to secure "ardent spirits, bringing with him a tin Kan or vessel holding about two gallons, stating that he wanted liquor, sometimes for his master and sometimes for the hands." He usually asked for peach brandy for Toncray, “who had undertaken to build the new courthouse in this county,” and apple brandy for the laborers. When the courthouse was finished Toncray brought charges against Wilcox for selling liquor to a slave without the master's permission. Wilcox protests the charge and accuses Toncray of conspiring with the sheriff to defraud him of the money he paid as a compromise so the suit would not go to trial. Wilcox asserts that "the whole of this business on the part of said Toncray was a vile fraud, and done with the intent to swindle him out of his money and the price of the liquor without any consideration for it whatever." He seeks compensation for "the spirits furnished," stating that he will provide an account "in proper time.”
Result: Injunction granted; dissolved; bill dismissed.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
