Fourth Generation Inclusive

Historical Documents of Genealogical Interest to Researchers of North Carolina's Free People of Color

Category: Crime

June 3, 2014

Stolen boy rescued in New Orleans.

From the New Orleans Commercial Times.

A CASE FOR THE TRIBUNE. – N. Carolina Standard. The editor of this paper calls for information regarding the fate of Hilliard Evans, a free boy of color, stolen some time ago from that State, by Wm. R. Boswell. Boswell was arrested by Capt. Winter, of the Second Municipality Police, on the charge of kidnapping Evans, and offering to sell him here for $500. He was sent to the Criminal Court, and the boy detained to bear witness against him. Boswell’s friends, however, as we are requested to state by Capt. Winter, a free man of color to bail the prisoner in sum of $1500; the man of color swearing he was worth that sum; $50 was presented to the bailor, for his services, and Boswell was liberated. He is now a fugitive from justice, and the bailor, it appears, is a mere man of straw. Hilliard Evans will now be forwarded to his home by the first convenient opportunity that offers. Capt. Winter has more than once written to his friends. Every care has been taken of the lad.

We trust that the above case will be duly noticed by certain persons at the North, who are so fond of denouncing the South for its indifference to the rights of the poor negro.

The Weekly Standard (Raleigh), 18 February 1846.

Perhaps: Hilliard Evans, 37, listed in the 1870 Mortality Schedule for Granville County. A carpenter, he died of consumption.

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June 3, 2014

Two trials.

Superior Court. – On Thursday, the 7th instant. Negro Ephraim, the property of Dr. Simmons J. Baker, of Martin county, was tried before the Superior Court of this county, for killing Francis W. Anderson, a free boy of color, by throwing at, and striking him on the head with a stone, which occasioned his death, after lingering a few days. He was convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to receive 39 lashes.

On the following day, the trial of a young man, of mixed blood, though, to all appearance, a white man, & having a white woman for his wife, charged with attempting to commit a rape upon a white girl of about 12 years of age, took place. The jury retired about eight o’clock in the evening, and, in three of four minutes after, returned with a verdict of Not Guilty.

The North Carolina Star (Raleigh), 15 April 1825.

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June 2, 2014

An account of an execution.

FOR THE PRESS.

WENTWORTH, N.C., Jan. 11th, 1859.

DEAR SIR:

On Friday last, according to the sentence of His Honor, Judge DICK, Lucy Hine, a free woman of color, and a resident of your county, was publicly executed about 1 ½ miles East of town, in the presence of an unusually small crowd, compared with the number generally attending executions. I was glad to see so small a crowd in attendance, as I think such spectacles have anything but a good tendency. – Instead of morality, immorality is taught on all such occasions.

The day of execution was a little damp, and the roads muddy, but not sufficiently so to be disagreeable. About 11 o’clock the Sheriff proceeded to the jail with the attending officer, robed the criminal for execution, placed her in a wagon, and conducted her to the gallows. – She was attended by three ministers, Rev’s Day, Fields and Norman. Arriving at the gallows, she ascended the scaffold with a firm and resolute step. On being asked, if she had any confessions to make, she relied, none more than she had already made to the jailor, which in substance is, that she was innocent of the murder, and that there was no plot whatever between Frank and herself to kill her husband, and that she lent no aid either for or against him, and that she helped to conceal the body after the murder was committed.

She then exhorted all persons present, mostly negroes, to beware of their acts and conduct and not so as she had done. Said that she had been a great sinner, but felt that she was forgiven, and was willing to die. After which Rev. B. Field of the Methodist Church, delivered a short and appropriate address; and at 1 o’clock, the rope being adjusted, the drop fell, and her spirit took its flight to that last resting place “whence no traveler returns.”

Much credit is due Rev. Wm. Gay of the Episcopal church at Leaksville, who visited the criminal the day before her execution, and prayed with attended her to the gallows. AVO.

The People’s Press (Winston-Salem), 14 January 1859.

In the 1840 census of Bethabara, Stokes County: Lucy Hine, a free woman of color aged 24-36, living alone.

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May 30, 2014

On trial for the murder of a Swede.

Murder and Arson.

Jesse Holley, a free mulatto, was arrested on last Saturday night, by Mr. A.D. Bordeaux and others, for the murder of a Mr. John Hendrick, and the burning of the house where said Hendrick lived, one night last week. When arrested, Holley had on clothes recognized as the property of the deceased. He was brought to town on Sunday morning and committed to prison, to stand an investigation at next Superior Court, which will be held here next week.

We learn that Mr. Hendrick was a native of Gottenborough, Switzerland [sic], where he has a wife and two children, and was making arrangements to send for them during the present year. He is represented as a man of industrious habits and a good mechanic. He was a shop carpenter by trade, but was in the employ of Mr. Bordeaux, about 2 miles from town, near the Railroad, at the time of his murder.

Wilmington Journal, 9 April 1852.

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…

To-day, Jesse Holley, a free mulatto, is on trial for the murder of John Hendrick, a Swede, who was killed on the night of the 3d inst., in his house on the Railroad, about 12 miles from town. The house was also burned down. – Jour. of yesterday.

The above named Prisoner has been found guilty.

Weekly Commercial (Wilmington), 30 April 1852.

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May 30, 2014

Runaway bound boy, no. 18.

SUPERIOR COURT. – The Term closed on Saturday. The three prisoners from Bladen were refused bail, and were remanded to prison.

Andrew Jackson Evans was tried for the murder of Joseph Williams, (both free colored,) in this town on the 30th ult. The jury rendered a verdict of manslaughter, and the Court sentenced the prisoner to receive 49 lashes and pay a fine of $100. For the State, B.R. Huske, Esq. (the Solicitor being indisposed.) For the prisoner, Gen. John Winslow and Messrs. C.G. Wright and Neill McKay.

A Special Term was ordered, for the trial of Civil Causes, (which were necessarily almost entirely neglected at this Term,) to be held on the 2d Monday in February. – Fay. Observer.

Wilmington Daily Herald, 21 November 1856.

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TO THE PUBLIC.

NOTICE is hereby given to all persons against their employing Andrew Jackson Evans, a free boy of color, as his services belong to me, as Agent. Any one employing him after this public notice, and paying him, will subject themselves to a second payment, besides laying themselves liable for damages. G.S. DEMING, Agt. Jan’y 18.

Fayetteville Weekly Observer, 23 January 1860.

[Clarification: As I learned when I found the top article after posting the bottom, A.J. Evans was not an apprentice at all. Rather, he had been “sold” to Deming for a period of time to pay off his fines. — LYH]

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May 30, 2014

The worm turns, no. 2.

A WHITE MAN MURDERED BY A FREE NEGRO. – The Murderer Hung. – We learn by a private letter from Wilkesboro that on the 1st instant a number of men in Wilkes county attempted to press a free negro by the name of Fletcher into the army as a servant. The negro fled, was pursued and caught. He then drew a pistol and shot his capturer, a Mr Carrender, through, killing him instantly. He was then carried to Wilkesboro and lodged in jail. On the following Thursday, the 3rd, an excited crowd gathered at the jail, and took the negro out and hung him until he was dead. – Raleigh Register.

The Charlotte Democrat, 22 October 1861.

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May 30, 2014

The worm turns, no. 1.

Murder in Henderson.

Mr. J.T. Henry, of Henderson county, while chastising a free negro named Abe Revels, on the 22d ult., was stabbed twice, and died the next day. The negro has been lodged in Jail in Hendersonville, to await his trial.

Asheville News, 6 August 1857.

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May 30, 2014

He tore up and destroyed his free papers.

KIDNAPPER ARRESTED.

Mr. James Franklin, a blind man, and a resident of Columbia, S.C., was arrested in this city yesterday, having been detected in endeavoring to sell a free negro into bondage. It appears that Franklin, about a week ago, went to Charlotte, N.C., where he made it known that he wished to hire a free negro to go with him and take care of him on a trip to the Virginia Springs. Harmon Proctor, a free negro, was recommended, and accepted the position. Franklin, having made his arrangements, went from Charlotte to Richmond, Va., when he changed his destination, and shortly after left for Greenville, Tennessee, where he has a brother living. After remaining there a few days, Franklin went to Louisville, and thence to Cincinnati, where he chanced to meet a free negro named A.W. Thompson, whom he engaged to accompany him to New Orleans, at which point it was understood that he intended to send Proctor home, taking Thompson for his body servant. In getting as far as Vicksburg, however, Thompson (who is a very bright mulatto, and a fellow of much shrewdness) learned of the disabilities imposed on free negroes by the laws of Louisiana, and prevailed upon Mr Franklin to return, which he did on the Edward J. Gay, which reached here on yesterday afternoon. While the Gay was discharging freight, Thompson prevailed upon Franklin to stop in Memphis for a day or two, and shortly after they made an attempt to sell Harmon Proctor as a slave. Proctor discovered what they were about after they had got him to the slave-dealer’s mart, and showed to the proposed purchaser the evidence of his freedom, which being shown to Mr Franklin, he immediately tore up and destroyed in the presence of the slave-dealer. These facts coming to the knowledge of the officers, the kidnappers, James Franklin (white) and A.W. Thompson (colored), were lodged in jail to await trial, as well also the negro whom they attempted to sell.

James Franklin is said to be a man of means living in Columbia, S.C., and a little fast in his expenditures for a blind man. It is supposed that the wily Cincinnati free negro first conceived the idea of selling Harmon Proctor into slavery, and then inveigled Franklin into it. Fortunately they are all in jail, and the guilty party will be made to suffer the full penalty of the law. – Memphis Enquirer.

The Charlotte Democrat, 9 October 1860.

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In the 1850 census of Cleveland County, Harmon Proctor, 18, in the household of white farmer William H. Cabaniss.

On 22 December 1856, Hermon Proctor married Anny Freeman. Rowan County Marriage Records.

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May 29, 2014

Recommended to the mercy.

SENTENCED TO BE HANGED. — At Wake Superior Court last week, John Locklear, a free negro, convicted of burglary, was sentenced to be hanged on the 16th of May, but was recommended to the mercy of the Governor by the Jury and the members of the Bar.

Asheville News, 1 May 1856.

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May 29, 2014

Interesting cases.

STOKES COUNTY COURT.

…

… 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.

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