Milly v. Mathias Rose

To the Honorable the Circuit Court in & for the County of St Louis in the Territory of Missouri

The petition of Milly a black woman who petitions as well for herself as for her two infant children, Eliza aged about 4 years and Bob aged about 2 years, humbly sheweth

That your petitioner and her said children are held in slavery by one Mathias Rose at St Ferdinand in the County of St Louis and within the jurisdiction of this court. That your petitioner was removed into this Territory about 2 years ago by the said Rose from the now state then Territory of Illinois, and has been held by him as a slave ever since. That your petitioner resided immediately preceeding her removal into this Territory, in the said Territory of Illinois and had continued to reside there, for about the space of sixteen years. That the said Rose was also an inhabitant of that Territory and held your petitioner as a slave during all that time.

She therefore conceives that under the laws of Illinois & the ordinance of Congress she is entitled to be free. Wherefore she prays that she & her children above named may be entitled to sue for their freedom as poor persons in this honorable court, according to the statute in such case made & provided. And your petitioner &c

Test Wm Patterson

Milly 
her X mark

Milly a Black Woman
vs
Matias Rose

Petition for freedom

filed April 21st 1819
A Gamble clk

In the Circuit Court
August Term 1819

Mathias Rose
ads
Milly a black woman
claiming freedom

And the said Mathias Rose by I Barton his attorney comes and defends the force and injury when &c and says the said Milly ought not to have or maintain her aforesaid action thereof against him because he says the said Milly at the said time when &c was and still is the slave of him the said Mathias Rose towit at the County aforesaid. Without this that the said Milly is free in manner and form as she above in her declaration supposes. And this the said Mathias Rose is ready to verify. Wherefore he prays judgment &c

I Barton Atto Deft

And for a further plea in this behalf as to the said assaulting imprisoning and detaining in prison of the said Milly the said Mathias Rose saith the said Milly ought not to have and maintain her aforesaid action thereof against him because he saith that by a law of the former Territory of Indiana in force at the time of the removal of the said Mathias Rose with the said Milly as herein after mentioned. it is enacted that it shall and may be lawful for any person being the owner or possessor of any negroes or mulattoes of and above the age of fifteen years and owing service and labor as slaves in any of the United States or Territories of the United States or for any citizen of the said states or Territories purchasing the same to bring the said negroes or mulattoes into that territory. And that the the owner or possessor of any negroes or mulattoes as aforesaid and bringing the same into that territory should within thirty days after such removal go with the same before the clerk of the Court of Common pleas of the proper county and in the presence of the said clerk the said owner or possessor should determine and agree to and with his or her negro or mulatto upon the term of years which the said negro or mulatto would and should serve his or her said owner or possessor. and the said clerk was thereby authorized and required to make a record thereof in a book which he should keep for that purpose. and the said Mathais Rose further saith that before and at the time of the removal of the said Milly as hereinafter mentioned he was the owner and possessor of the said Milly who was above the age of fifteen years towit: of the age of sixteen years and who owed service and labor to him as a slave in the state of Kentucky. towit at the county of St Louis aforesaid and being such owner and possessor of the said Milly as a slave he the said Mathias Rose heretofore towit: on the twenty eighth day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and five brought the said Milly into the County of Knox in the said territory of Indiana; and that afterwords and within thirty days after his removal with the said Milly as aforesaid he went with the said Milly before Robert Buntin Clerk of the Court of Common pleas for the said County of Knox and in the presence of the said clerk determined and agreed to and with the said Milly that the said Milly should and would serve him the said Mathias Rose and his assigns for the term of seventy years from that date and that he the said Mathias Rose and his assigns should provide the said Milly with necessary and sufficient provisions, clothing, washing, and lodging according to her degree and station and that from and after the expiration of the said term the said Milly should be free to all intents and purposes towit at the County of St Louis aforesaid. By virtue whereof the said Mathias Rose afterwards towit: on the day and year last aforesaid took the said Milly into his custody and service as his servant for the the term aforesaid and hath ever since kept and detained and still doth keep and detain the said Milly in his custody and service as such servant as it was lawful for him to do for the cause aforesaid using no more force and violence than was absolutely necessary to ensure the obedience and service of his said servant towit: at the County of St Louis aforesaid. Which is the same assaulting, imprisoning and detaining in prison of the said Milly by her above complained of and no other and this he the said Mathias Rose is ready to verify. Wherefore he he prays judgment &c

I Barton Atto for Deft

Territory of Missouri
County of St Louis ss 

United States of America 

By order of the act of the legislature of 1807.

To Mathias Rose, You are hereby commanded that the body of Milly a black woman, in your custody detained (as it is said) you have under safe & secure conduct together with the day & cause of her detainer, by whatsoever name the said Milly may be called, before the Circuit Court in & for the County of St Louis in the Town of St Louis in said County, immediately after the receipt of this writ, then & there to do, submit to, and receive whatsoever the said Court shall consider in that behalf. Witness Nathanial B Tucker Judge of said Court at St Louis the fourteenth day of August one thousand eight hundred & nineteen.

N. B. Tucker.

In obedience to the command of the within writ, and on the return thereof the within named Mathias Rose says that Milly the within named black woman is not in his custody or possession; and that on the twentieth day of July last, the said Milly absconded from the house and possession of the said Mathias Rose, without his consent and against his will, since which time he has neither seen nor heard of her.

St Louis August the seventeenth 1819.

Mathias Rose
his X mark

Mileage allowed
10 cents per mile
N. B. Tucker

And the said Milly by Rufus Pettibone her Guardian ad litem, according to the form of the statute in such case made & provided by way of suggestion, saith that the first part of the return of the said Mathias Rose to the above writ of Habeas Corpus, where he says the said Milly is not in his custody or possession, is, evasive and insufficient. And as to the evidence of the said return, she says that she did not at the time when &c, or at any time since abscond from the house & possession of the said Mathias Rose in manner & form as he hath in his said return alledged. And this she prays may be enquired of.

Pettibone for Plff

Milly
vs
Mathias Rose

Habeas Corpus

Missouri Territory. St. Louis County Circuit Court
At the Term of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & nineteen

County of St Louis, to wit, Milly, a free woman of color held in slavery and who is permitted by the Court to sue as a poor person by R Pettibone her attorney assigned as counsel by the said Court complains of Mathias Rose of a plea of trespass. For that the said Mathias heretofore to wit, on the first day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & nineteen at St Ferdinand in the County of St Louis & within the Jurisdiction of this Court, with force & arms unlawfully an assault did make in & upon her the said Milly and then & there imprisoned her the said Milly and kept & detained her in prison without any lawful cause whatsoever. And hath ever since kept and detained and still doth keep and detain her in prison against the will of the said Milly and contrary to the laws of this Territory and other wrongs to her then & there did against the peace of the United States of America and to the damage of the said Milly five hundred dollars and therefore she sues &c

R Pettibone