Mathew O'Driscoll states that in 1813 he owned Brister and Gabriel, two slaves "who ran away from him & were harboured by some of their acquaintances on a certain plantation." He relates that "a detachment of Militia" acting under the authority of a 1794 act of assembly "shot them down and killed them." He reports that he filed his memorial in 1814 "praying remuneration at the hands of the treasurer of the state" and that said petition was rejected. He then filed suit against the militia at the Court of Common Pleas wherein the jury returned a verdict: "We find that the negroes Brister and Gabriel, the property of Dr. ODriscoll were lawfully killed by a party of the Militia, assembled under the proper officers, and acting according to the provisions of the Act of 1794. And we therefore find a Verdict for the Defendants." O'Driscoll avows that his "said slaves had been guilty of no offence, except against your memorialist; and that only in the venial offence of runing away from his employ." He avers that, "without any fault or neglect" on his part, "the lives of his slaves have been taken away, and his property destroyed under the sanction of the law of the state" and that he is deprived "of any private redress at the hands of those engaged in the said transaction." Noting the values of said slaves to be $600 for Brister and $400 for Gabriel, the petitioner "again submits his case to the consideration of your Honorable body, and prays that compensation may be allowed him by the State."
Result: Referred to claims committee; rejected.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
