Thomas and Lucy Hodnett state that their reputations as "good honest just and faithful citizens" have been damaged by the slander of Wade Jones. When Caroline, a slave hired by the Hodnetts from the estate of Willis Jones, died "of disease" February 1841, Jones accused Lucy Hodnett of mistreatment. He informed a group of citizens that Lucy Hodnett was guilty of "beating her (the said girl) with a loom bench quilting frame & hickory Stick!" The defendant remarked that if he had been the physician, he "should have to have the girl (meaning Caroline) taken up (that is to have disinterred & a post mortem examination had over her.)" The petitioners aver that Lucy Hodnett is now suspected of murder and that their neighbors have "wholly refrained from having any transaction acquaintance or discourse with her." The petitioners seek $15,000 in damages.
Result: Denied; appealed; overturned.
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Repository: Troup County Archives, LaGrange, Georgia
