Interesting cases.

by Lisa Y. Henderson

STOKES COUNTY COURT.

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… On Wednesday there was a case which excited considerable interest, the case of the State vs. Enoch Going. The State was represented by Mr. Solicitor Masten, and Going was defended by J.R. McLean and A.H. Joyce, Esquires. This was an indictment against the said defendant, who was charged in the bill as being a free negro, for migrating into this State from Virginia, contrary to our Act of Assembly. The defendant, through his counsel, denied that he is a free negro, and alleged that he is of Indian extraction. The Jury, on the testimony before them, acquitted him.

On the same day, Rowan Stewart and Harston Stewart, free negroes and brothers, were arraigned on a charge of having gambled with a slave, Calvin, the property of Alexander Martin. The State was assisted by J.R. McLean, Esq., and Mr. Morehead appeared for the defendants. The testimony showed that the free negroes and slaves played at a game of cards on the Sabbath day and directly on the side of a public road; that the three had liquor and were drinking; and that, after they were discovered by the witness, much abusive language passed between them, and that this ended in a fight. It was an aggravated case. The defendants submitted to a verdict of guilty and endeavored to beg; but the court, and very properly too, sentenced them to thirty-nine lashes each, a fine of $20 a piece,and to be hired out for the cost and fines, if not secured. These, however, were secured.

The Greensboro Times, 24 March 1860.

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In the 1850 census of Stokes County, Harston Stewart, 15, in the household of white farmer Hugh Martin.