Dr. Francis Porcher seeks compensation for the "surgical operation" he conducted on the body of a dead slave. Porcher recalls that the jury of inquest and the acting coroner required his expertise as they "were unable to form any verdict as the cause of said negro's death without a surgical operation." The petitioner admits that he "is at a loss what charge to make for such an operation, but leaves it to the discretion & liberality of your honorable body to prescribe what compensation he shall receive." The report of the jury and coroner detail Porcher's actions. It states that Porcher "dissected as well the head as the body of the said negro: from which inspection & from the opinion of Doctor Porcher on oath, the verdict was given, that the negro came to his death by the cruelty & violence of his master." The report cites that said operation "was a disagreeable one, as putrefaction had commenced, & the body was approaching fast to decay."
Result: Committee favorable; laid on table.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
