Hosea George, of Arkansas, prays for the annulment of a slave sale and the return of his purchase money. He represents that, in early 1853, he purchased a thirty-three-year old mulatto slave named Jacob from one P. W. West in New Orleans. The slave was fully guaranteed “against all the vices & maladies made redhibitory by law.” George paid the purchased price of $1,500 to West’s agents, Moses Greenwood and Thomas E. Adams. In return, the two men fully guaranteed the terms and conditions of the sale. However, Jacob ran away within two months of the sale. He has never been found. George charges that Jacob was in fact a “habitual” runaway and that West “knew him to be so.” He further charges that Jacob had been introduced into the state of Louisiana “for the purpose of sale within less than eight months prior to the time" of the purchase. George therefore wants to sell back his rights to the slave to West and the sale to be cancelled. He prays that Greenwood and Adams be condemned to return his $1,500 with interest from the time Jacob ran away, plus $150 in damages.
Result: Granted; appealed; affirmed.
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Repository: University of New Orleans
