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TUt SUaw Kidaapping Case.At the: opening of tbo Ccorr ;f Quarter Sessions yesterday morning, it was diec-jv^-ru :hst one of tbo juror? ws quite iP. By consent o *i.o ts-un^ei .or both sides, tbo caseVa- continued * itb cloven jurors.The first witness called wus Philip Harl-d, w q testified that h* bed known Ferris about four y**ars, worked with him m July, l!57, for Mr. Faulkner, m Manchester. At that time ho received a letter from Meeks, then in St. Louis, which stated that he thvucl ■ 1 e could do better there arc! ndvisiDg Har-lan to t;o ihero. He left this city on the 4th of Au guit, IS57, (ot r, however, -n the P«rencth of the let. ter) taking Ferris with him. He said Ferns and he started rn a banter, Ferris proposing to go and Har-Ian agreeing to go if Ferri3 went. They went to St. Louie. Harlan returned on tbo- 14th of September, leaving Ferris in St. Louis. He wanted Harlan to advance him money to come back to Pittsburgh. Has never seen Ferris since he cstco back from St. Louis.Miles Owen, lt;d Memphis, Tennessee, was next called to the stand. The defense offered to prove by this witness that he knew Ferris; had owned him as a slave ; and sold him to Rag’an; that ho was and ' Is now the slave of Raglan; that be is the same person who worked h rc as a bricklayer. Also that 1 Shaw did not entieo him out of Penney!ranis.Thy? Court overruled the part of tfco offer relative j to the slavery of Ferris, unless it was first proved by s competent testimony that slavery exists in Alabama.Mr. Swartsweider offered to prove that slavery ex-ists in Alabama, first by Mr. Penney, an attorney, as ^ an^exnert, then by tbo United States Digest, contain- ^ ing decisions regulating slavery in Alabama, ana ^ finally by Kent’s Commentary, which contained a ^ history c! the rise and progress of slavery, alleging that it siid exit's in all 'the Southern States. All the offers wore overruled, being objected to by Mr. Kirkpatrick, coarse- for the prosecution. jMr. Owen then calied to tfco stand to prove ^that Ferris wus not enticed to the South by £baw^ ^Mr. Owen testified that be knew Geo. W. Ferris. ^ Last saw bim in April, 1S5S. Had a conversation ^ with bim, rcccDsei kt pro.-ocation objected to the ^ introdaetfon of this* eviaencc, but the objection was overruled by the Court.] Ho showed me his satchel marked “ George ” • Ferris, Pittsburgh, Pa. I should Fiy th»~t he was the same man who was in Allegheny. [All evidence as to the conversation of f witness with Ferris was overruled by the Court.} Ferris was much like a white man, but had African * blood in his veins ; I owned his mother. The description-of George in Uncle Tom’s Cabin was very accurate.On cross-examination Mr. Owen statod that he knew 1 Ferris tv. b in Pittsburgh by despatches he had seen from Shaw to Raglan, stating that Ferris was in this city. I first saw him in.^Natchez in 1855, when he w-i8 the property of Henry T. Miller. Mr. Miller's , eiavcs wero purcbasod by the friends of his w^fe.Mr. Sw irtswelder staged that he had used every ( endeavor to got his witress hero, but failed, and be would, therefore, ask the Court to give him until morning, to ureeure their attendance, which was ( granted by the C-mrt.The counsel then informed the Court on several points whek wjiUd be submitted : and at ha-f-past fivo o’clock, the Court adjourned.
Newspaper Details
Pittsburgh Morning Post
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US
Fri, Oct 15, 1858
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
OH, USA 07 Jun 2024
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