| Summary: | Sale of a female slave, aged about 27 years, in 1854 for [dollars] 800, with warranty, by Samuel D Schoolfield to the plaintiff. Dispute as to whether this slave was Jane or Charlotte and whether there was a mistake with the name on the sale documents, or whether there was an attempt to defraud. Schoolfield was indebted to the plaintiff and his co-partners in the firm of W W & H Smith in Philadelphia for a sum of about [dollars] 2,600. The plaintiff and his agent were strangers to Orange county, North Carolina. No slave was delivered to the agent and instead the vendor agreed to hire her back at [dollars] 5 per month. In January 1855 the plaintiff conveyed the slave with a considerable amount of other property to John A Turrentine for a nominal sum of [dollars] 5 to secure certain debts and indemnify his sureties for these debts. In this action the plaintiff filed for an injunction to stop the defendants from selling the slave, for a re-conveyance of her to the plaintiff, and for an account of her hires and general relief. The defendants argued that Turrentine had legitimate title to the slave as per the fair and bona fide conveyance of January 1855 to secure the debts and to indemnify against actual liabilities incurred by them for Schoolfield. Justice Battle agreed. The defendants were not parties to any fraud. They fairly and honestly obtained the legal title for the slave and have a right to retain it. The plaintiff's bill was dismissed with costs.
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