COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, MONTREAL
Tuesday the 18th March 1788.
Present : The Hon. Herrez De RouviLze, Epwarp SOUTHOUSE,
Rossiter Hoyle Atty., ] The Plaintiff having in
to the Trustees of Mary Jacobs, | and by his declaration devs. manded of the Defendant
Donald Fisher, and Elizabeth | the sum of £100, currency, his wife. FREE or that the De-
fendants do deliver up to the Plaintiff two negro wenches the one named Silvia Jane, the other Ruth Jane, which said negro wenches the Defendant, for and in consideration of the sum of £50 to them paid by Mary Jacobs, did on the Ath of December 1785, by a deed passed before Gerbrans Beek, notary, sell and transfer to the said Mary Jacobs, to hold and possess during their natural lives.
The Court having seen the original sammons with the Sherifl’s return duly ceftified, and having taken into consideration the default made by the Defendants, on the 10th day of March instant, and the Defendants having been again duly called this day and not appearing in person nor by Attorney ; it is ordered that the Defendants do forthwith deliver the said negro wenches, and on default thereof that the said Defendant be condemned to pay to the Plaintiff, in his quality aforesaid the sum of £50 with cost of suit,
Esqrs.
ln CA ue = — tes
{3. L'on trouve au greffe de Montréal, parmi les Records
[At de la Cour des plaidoyers communs, celui d’une action in-
| | tentée par John Mittberger contre Patrick Langan, en Juillet
- 1788, pour le remboursement du prix d’un nègre que le De-
mandeur avait acheté avec garantie du Défendeur, par acte
sous seing privé fait à Montréal le 5 Décembre 1780 pour la somme de £60.
Ce nègre était connu sous le nom de “Nero,” Mr. Langan if en avait garanti la possession à l’acheteur et s’était engagé à le défendre contre toutes réclamations quelconques.
Après avoir relaté l’acte de vente, le Demandeur alléguait ( | dans sa déclaration “that after the said 5th day of December | 14 and before the 12th day of July 1781, the said negro man
was taken and withheld from the Plaintiff by Allan Mc-
Clean Esq., Brigadier General of His Majesty’s Forces,
commanding at Montreal aforesaid as a prisoner of war and
by the said Allan McClean confined and provisioned as such in the public Provot; until he made his escape entirely from the claim of the Plaintiff ; and on the said 12th July, |. the Defendant having notice of the interruption of the Plain- | tiffs’ enjoyment of the said negro man by the said Allan McClean, did make and subscribe in his proper handwriting a certaid certificate purporting that the said negro man called ts Nero, was the property of one Gordon a Colonel then a pri- | 118 soner of war within the said province, captured by the Mohawk Indians, and by the Defendant sold on account of the said Indians. That notwithstanding such certificate the said negro man was detained from the Plaintiff until occasion offered for him to escape to the said Colonel Gordon whose
GC ét RE ht mt mme
property he was acknowledged to be, and with whom he now lives and remains without any possibility to the Plain- + { tiff of recovering him. | Jon } Le Demandeur, concluant en conséquence au rembourse- « Pa ment de la dite somme de £60 et à £25 4 0 de dommages et tif, <
: Ai les dépens. an |
La défence du Défendeur fut , “that true it is that as «gent for and on behalf of the Mohawk Indians he did bargain and sell to the Plaintiff a certain negro man that had been captured by the said Indians on an expedition to the Enemy’s frontiers, and did deliver possession of the said negro to the Plaintiff, who thercby became legally possessed of him, that the Defendant is by no means liable for the oppressive act of Brigadier General McClean or of any other person ; the law was open to the Plaintiff, and he ought and should have taken his recourse for the recovery of his property which he has lost by his avowed lashes ; that the Plaintiff never considered the Defendant liable to him for the purchase money of the said negro, otherwise he would not have suffered seven years to pass without compelling the Defendant to the payment of the same.” Par le Jugement rendu le 20 Janvier 1789, ‘ It is ordered and adjudged that the Plaintif do recover of the Defendant the sum of £60 current money,being the principal sum paid by him to the Defendant for the negro mentioned in his declaration, with interest on the said sum from the 4th day of July last (1788)
until actual payment and costs of suit.”
N. B. Il faut voir la déposition du capt. Munro, et celle de Isaac Hill, chef Mohawbh, elles sont rapportées ci-dessus ; les originaux sont entre les mains de l’hon. James Leslie gendre de M. Langan, ainsi que l’acte de vente du 5 Déc. 1780. Le certificat du 12 Juillet 1781, était encore dans le record, lorsque j’en ai fait l’examen le 9 avril 1853.
