Marie Foustin, a free woman of color, petitions the court for the return of her slave, Louise. Louise "was imported in this State at the time of the Emigration of the French from Cuba in the year eighteen hundred and nine" by Foustin and was never "in any way alienated and transferred." For over a year Louisa has been "in the possession of one Lucille a free negro woman who fraudulently pretends to keep her from your Petitioner." Although often requested to return the slave, Lucille refuses, "under false, fraudulent and frivolous pretences." Foustin asks the court Marie Adelaide Toustin, a free woman of color, petitions the court for the return of her sixteen-year-old slave named Louise. According to Toustin, she imported Louise "in this State at the time of the Emigration of the French from Cuba in the year eighteen hundred and nine" and never "in any way alienated and transferred" her. She claims that, for over a year, Louise has been "in the possession of one Lucille a free negro woman who fraudulently pretends to keep her from your Petitioner." Although often requested to return the slave, Lucille refuses, "under false, fraudulent and frivolous pretences." Toustin asks the court to order Lucille to return Louise and pay $200 in damages "for the fraud above mentioned." Related documents in the French language reveal that Toustin, while still in Cuba, may have sold Louise to a white woman named Suzanne Maurin [Morin], in order to pay for her passage to the United States. Several people claim to have witnessed the sale and report that Marie Adelaide (whom they refer to as Sanite or Sanitte) expressed on several occasions her satisfaction with the sale. A statement of facts also reveals that Maurin has recently sold Louise to Lucille. to order Lucille to return Louisa and pay $200 in damages "for the fraud above mentioned."
Result: Granted; appealed.
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Repository: University of New Orleans
