Mary Geils Perkins, suing by her next friend Richard Perkins Jr., states that she married Constantine Perkins in 1837. After the wedding, the couple removed to Arkansas and lived then "until the 20th day of March in the year 1838-- on that day, the said Constantine, in a fit of intoxication from the use of ardent spirits, committed an act of murder, and in consequence thereof, immediately ... fled from the state ... and is now living in the Cherokee Nation." Previous to committing the murder, Constantine had purchased a half interest in a slave named Maria and her three children from John M. Perkins for the benefit of his wife. The slave family was at that time part of the estate of the late George M. Perkins. Mary Perkins explains that the estate has been recently been divided, and "the moiety of the said John M. Perkins, sold as aforesaid, laid off and allotted" to him, consisting of Maria, John and Pleasant. Soon after the division, John Perkins tried to sell the slaves whose half he had sold in 1837 to Constantine Perkins. However, before a public sale could take place, the petitioner was recognized as the slaves' "rightful mistress" and they were given to her. John "endeavored to compromise with her, and actually offered, if she would pay $400, to yield all further claim to the negroes ... when your oratrix ... signified a willingness to accede to the offer, he then denied that he ever made it." The petitioner now understands that John "pretends recently to have procured from the said Constantine, a cancelment of the said contract," a fraud which the petitioner believes her husband and John Perkins have together enacted against her. She prays for a divorce and that her rights of property, including her rights to Maria and her children, be restored.
Result: Dismissed.
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Repository: Circuit Court Building, Rustburg, Virginia
