plff & Judge of Liberationbk 12 p 62

No 116
St Louis Circuit Court
July Term 1839

Suit for freedom summons

Bird p.q. Filed 6th May 1839
Jno Ruland Clerk

Excuted this writ in the county
of St Louis on the seventh day of
May 1839 by offering to read it
and the petition and declaration
and also the order made by the
honorable judge to Benjamin Clapp
the defendant all of which he said
defendant refused to hear

Marshall Brotherton
Sheriff Service $ 1.00

County of St. Louis , Ss.The State Of Missouri ,To the Sheriff of St. Louis County--Greeting:

We command you to summon Benjamin Clapp if he
be found in your County
that he be and appear
before the judge of our Circuit Court , on the first day of the next term thereof, to be held
at the City of St. Louis , within and for the County of St. Louis , on the third Monday,
of July next, then and there to answer unto Charles Endicott
who sues by his next friend Gustavus A Bird of
a plea of trespass

And have you then there this writ.

Witness, John Ruland , Clerk of our said Court,
with the seal thereof hereto affixed at office, in the
City of St. Louis , this sixth day of
May in the year of our Lord eighteen
hundred and thirty-nine. Jno Ruland Clerk. by

I acknowledge myself bound for all costs that may accure in the above cause.
Witness my hand and seal, at St. Louis , this day of 18

believe to be true- that the
Petitioner was pursuaded to leave his
father & mother by our Samuel gray
who afterwards kidnapped him & said
him as a slave to Benjamin Clapp of
St Louis On friday & Saturday last the
prisoner was to find
to assist him in procuring his freedom
& called with affiants at the
G A Bird who was not found there
The seemed to be alarmed for
fair he might be from St Louis
to present his attaining his freedom said
Bird informs the affiants that he
promised to prepare his Petition & affidavit
to enable the petitioner to sue for freedom
yesterday & that the Petitioner agreed to
call on said Bird last night &
make the affidavit but
did not from which the
affiants think they have reason to
believe that the Petitioner has been
prevented from making said affidavit
by said Clapp or sam one also

W M S. Sworn to Wm S Nelson
this 6th day of may 1839
before me

Justice of the

I Luke E Lawless Judge of the Saint Louis
Circuit Court and State of Missouri do,
hereby order that the Petitioner
named be allowed to sue as a poor person
to establish his right to freedom and I hereby
G A Bird as next friend & assign him as
counsel of the petitioner and I further
order that said Petitioner have reasonalbe
liberty of attending his counsel & the Court
as may require; that he be
not removed out of the Jurisdiction of
the Court, and that he be not subject
to any security on account of his application
for freedom

Petition of Charles
Endicott for leave
to sue for his freedom
orders of the Judge

To the Honorable Luke E Lawless Judge
of the Saint Louis Circuit Court for
the State of Missouri .

The Petitioner of Charles
Endicott a mulatto Boy aged about eighteen
years respectfully unto your
Honor that he is & Justly
entitled to his liberty although he is held
& claimed as a slave by Benjamin
Clapp at St Louis in the town of
St Louis and State of Missouri - your
Petitioner, has lived many years in
in the State of New

York when his father & mother &
himself were as free
persons & he prays he may
be permitted to sue as a poor person
to
G A Bird for &
in behalf of the Petitioner
Nelson & Perry on their
oath say that that this this
Petitioner at in the State
of New York and his parents for about three or four years
years where the petitioner & his parents acted
& were generally to be free persons
and these affiants are fully persuaded that
said petitioner is entitled to his freedom
They saw the Petitioner in St Louis last
week & readily accompanied him as the same
person they knew in the State of New york
They have understood that he was
born free man in
Canada The Petitioner tells
the following circumstances which they

In the case of Charle Endicott a man of
clolor against Benjamin Clapp the said
defendant having declined to enter unto
in such case made &
proceded It is hereby ordered that the sheriff
of St Louis County take posession of
said Charles who has sued for his freedom
and hire him ont to the best advantage
from time to time during the of
his suit for Freedom and that he
from the here payable to the state of missouri
in the sum of five hundred Dollars &
such as said shall
undetained according to the second
section of the act an act to
enable persons held in slavery to sue for
their freedom approved January 27th 1835
St Louis may 18th 1839

Judge Circuit Court

Suit for freedom
We agree that depositions may be
taken in this cause by cash party at
the office of Joseph esquire in
the of St Louis on Saturday next
between & pM to be
read in an said cause
saving all as to
July 30 1840

G A Bird atty
for Pltf Risque att
for defendants

I acknowledge legal

No
S Louis Circuit Court
November Term 1840

Depositions for plff

Dep by g.A. Bird esqe
$ 2.

Filed November 13. 1840.
Jno Ruland Clerk G.A. Bird Esq

& questioned
answer I did not
Recorss examined

Question - Have you any personal knowledge whether the
plaintiff or his father or mother were free or slaves?
answer I know only from the Circumstance of their
living there for the length of time as I have stated?

Re examined

Question - when you knew then in New York were they
acting under the control of any person or as servants
answer - they were not they lived in a house by them
selves

Sworn to and subscribed before me
on the day at the place & between
the hours in thus behalf aforesaid
justice

State of missouri
County of S Louis
ss

I Joseph a justice of the peace
in and for said county do certify that Chester Mellen &
Calvin Case the deponants were by me severally sworn
to testify the whole truth of their knowledge touching
the matter in controversy aforesaid that they were
examined & their examination reduced to writing &
them subscribed in my presence on the day between
the hours and at the place in that behalf aforesaid
given under my hand this 1st day of august AD 1840
( $2.00 paid by G.A. Bird Esq)

Walsh Justice

Depositions of witnesses produced sworn & examined
before me Joseph Walsh a Justice of the peace
& St Louis County at my office in the
of St Louis on the first day of August
in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred &
forty between the hours of three & six o clock
in the afternoon of that day taken on the
part of the plaintiff to be read in
in a cause pending in the circuit
court of St Louis & State of Missouri in
which Charles Indicott as plaintiff & Benjamin
Clapp is defendant.

Chester mellen of lawful age being produced
sworn and examined deposes & says, I know the plaintiff
Charles Indicott who is here present & have known him since
the year 1830 or 1831 when he was quite small at Sacketts harbor
Jefferson County State of New York where I resided since 1825 to 1 may last I never paid much
attaintion but have seen him about the villge several
times & saw him there two or three years ago last fall,
& do not recollect seeing him afterwards until today.

The father of the plaintiff lived at Sacketts Harbor in 1830
& 1831 & perhaps before, & lived there about a year since, he
passed as a free man & kept a barber shop there when I left
there in May last he was reputed a free man & acted as such
Cross examined

Have you any personal knowledge an to whether the father
of the plaintiff was or was not a free man ?

Answer I have not. he acted there as a free man like all other
and & I never heard the matter as to whether he ever
had been a slave or not- and further this deponent
saith not-

Chester Mellon Sworn to and subscribed before me on the
day between the hours and at the plan
in that behalf aforesaid-
J. W Walsh Justice

Calvin Case of lawful a being produced sworn and
examined deposeth and saith. I have known the plaintiff
Charles Endicott occasionally since the year 1830 or 1831
at Sacketts Harbor where I then resided, & when I last saw him
in 1835. I did not see him again until I saw him in S Louis
in June 1839 I have no doubt as to his Identity I also
knew his reputed father who kept a barber shop there & passed for a
free man & acted as such in the years 1830 & 1831, & occasionally
went on steam boats, he had several children-

Question- was the father of the plaintiff acting as
and considered a free man & did you ever know of his
being claimed or a slave?

Answer He did act as a free man there as all other
colored persons do, and I never knew of his being claimed
as a slave

Question, Did you also know the mother of Plaintiff
& did she act and was she reputed to be a free woman,
& did you ever know of her being claimed as a slave?

Answer. I know the reputed mother of the plaintiff
or the woman who lived with his reputed father as his
wife, who & was considered as a free woman as all
other colord persons there are-

Question are you acquainted with Chester Mellen the
last witness & what was his business & standing at Sacketts
Harbor-

Answer I have known him there since 1826 when I went to
Sackets Harbor to live, until the Spring of 1837 & have not
seen him since until to day, he was engaged in the mer
cantile business & his character was as goods as that of
any man there.

Cross Examined

Question- Have you not reason to believe that there are many
runaway slaves living on the line between Canada & New York

Who pass themselves off as free persons the community there?

Answer, I have never known any as low down as Sackets Harbor
higher up about Buffalo & on the lake there are
Re-examined-

Question- Did you ever hear while living in
New York the right to freedom of the plaintiff for of his father or

No 116 July 7

plea not guilty
B S Hunton
atty.

Filed November 27th 1839 Jn Ruland Clerk

plea

And the said defendant by
his attorney comes & defends the and
injury and says he is not guilty
of the supposed greivances above said & his charge,
or any or either of them or any part thereof in man
ner & form as the said plaintiff hath above com
-plained against him, And of this he the said
defendant puts himself upon the County.

Bugy & Hunton
atty for deft.

Served this writ on
S. H. Robbins 20th Janry
1841- the other not found

M.Brotherton
Shff
fee.87-

for plaintiff
Capt. Calbin Case
William Nelson
(both of the above live near
the , a little
back of it, in a white
house)

Solomon H Robbins
Chester Mc Millan
for 21st Jan 1841

County of St. Louis , sct.
The State Of Missouri ,To the Sheriff of St. Louis County,- Greeting:

You are hereby commanded to summon Captn. Calvin Case,
William Nelson, Solomon. H. Robbins
Chester Mc Millan
that setting aside all manner of execuse and delay, he be and appear in proper person
before the Judge of our Circuit Court , on the 26th day of January
A.D. 1841 at the City of St. Louis , then and there to testify,
and the truth to say in a certain matter of controversy now pending in our said Court,
wherein Charles Endicott is
plaintiff and Benjamin C Clapp
defendant on the part of plff
and have you then there this writ.

Witness, John Ruland , Clerk of our said Circuit
Court , at the City of St. Louis , this nineteenth
day of January in the year of our Lord eighteen
hundred and forty one Jn Ruland Clerk, C.C.

Served this writ on A.C. Griffin
25 Jan. 1841

M Brotherton
shff
fee .50

Sub for

Albert C Griffin
for Plff
forthwith

County of St. Louis , Sct.State Of Missouri ,To the Sheriff of St. Louis County, Greeting:

You are hereby commanded to summon Albert C Griffin
that setting aside all manner of execuse and delay, he be and appear in proper person
before the Judge of our Circuit Court , on the twenty eighth day of
January 1841 at the City of St. Louis , then and there to testify
and the truth to say in a certain matter of controversy now pending in our said Court,
wherein Charles Indicott is
plaintiff and Benjamin Clapp is
defendant on the part of plaintiff
and have you then there this writ.

Witness, John Ruland , Clerk of our said Circuit
Court , at the City of St. Louis , this 26th
day of January in the year of our Lord eighteen
hundred and forty one Jn Ruland Clerk, C.C.

Suit for freedom
the statute
The Clerk will please
issue a Summons.

G A Bird
next friend & counsel

State of Missouri Saint Louis Circuit
Court July Term AD 1839

Charles Endicott and infant under twenty
one years of age a mulatto complains of
Benjamin Clapp of a plea of trespass
for that on the first day of January in
the year eighteen hundred & thirty nine the
the said defendant at St Louis in said
County with force & arms then &
there seized & enslaved the said plaintiff
and then & there & with and
any reasonable or probable cause imprisoned
him & hath kept him there imprisoned
from the day last aforesaid to this day
& other wrongs then & there did
and the plaintiff avers that before
& during, the time of committing said
grievances the said plaintiff was and
still is s free person and the Defendant
kept & detained & Still does keep and
detain the plaintiff in slavery wherefore
he brings suit to Charles Endicott

by G A Brid his
next friend & Counsel

We the Jury find for the Plaintiff

Jas S Brown
Foreman