Knox County court record for US vs. Samuel Gregory reference Bartlet (Bartlett), a slave, 1799

Description:	The case of the United States vs. Samuel Gregory is housed in folder 119, Box 2, Knox County Court Files at the Knox County Public Library’s McGrady Brockman House. Documents in this file tell the following story. 1.A document dated November 18, 1799 shows Joseph Moreau and Jean Baptist Cheroque believing “a Negro man by the name of Bartlett (or Bartlet)” had “stolen a fiddle, two shirts one pair of overalls and a quantity of powder and lead the S. Bartlett having acknowledged the same.” Also listed as stolen are flour, tallow and the meat or one deer. In the document James Purcell tells the constable to bring Bartlet before him or “some other justice of the peace to answer the above complaint.2.The next document is a bail bond dated November 19, 1799 calling Moreau and Cheroque into court.3.From Pierre Gamelin to the Constable in Knox County, Dec. 21, 1799 “…commit to safe custody the body of Bartlett, a Black man and safely keep so that you have his body before the justice of our court of the General Quarter” to answer to the above charges.4.In a statement taken by James Purcell on December 24, 1799 from Deputy Jailor Samuel Gregory, Gregory says “a certain Negro man by the name of Bartlett was on the 22nd day of the present month of December [in]his care as jailor….He was so in his custody to wit the twenty third day of the said month [when a]certain man by the name of David Logan a Slaver did with force and arms to wit with guns and pistols and other weapons…Rescue and carry away from care the said negro Bartlett against the peace of the territory.” The document goes on to summons Logan and Bartlett to appear before Purcell or “some other Justice of the Peace. “We find the person not guilty of the crimes alleged against him.”5.In another document of December 24, 1799 titled “A. Rowen’s affidavit and penned by Luke Decker, Rowen says “On the 23 of December at Small’s Tavern in Vincennes David Logan proposed giving Samuel Gregory… to let him take of a Negro man by the name of Bartlett said Gregory said that he… would bring him down and put him in that big room and that they might take him form there meaning the said Logan for which he gave him six dollars and I believe a watch…” Small’s Tavern was owned by Knox County’s first sheriff, John Small.6.“U States vs Sam Gregory: warrant perjury and bribery” is dated December 26, 1799 and and “…that a certain Samuel Gregory did on the 23rd day of December in the year of our Lord 1799 at Small’s Tavern in Vincennes Receive and take as a Bribe the sum six dollars and a silver watch from a certain David Logan for the delivery into his possession of a certain Negro man by the name of Bartlett who was committed to and under the care and charge of Samuel Gregory as Deputy sheriff in and for the County and Territory aforesaid for the charge of theft. This document also appears to have been penned by Luke Decker.7.An affidavit dated Dec. 28, 1799 shows David Logan saying under oath that “a certain Negro man by the name of Bartlett now in custody is a slave and the rightful property of a certain Col. William Montgomery if Lincoln County in the State of Kentucky.”8.Dec. 28, 1799, a bond of $150.00 paid by Joseph Baird and Jeremiah Claypoole to ensure Logan appears in court in which Gregory is the defendant on the first Tuesday, Feb. 1800.9.January 7, 1800, a bond of $500 paid by Samuel Gregory, John Small, Abner Reeves, John Marney, Tousaint Dubois and Joseph Baird to ensure Gregory appears in court.10.Court record, Feb. term, 1800. Gregory is found guilty. The document refers to the defendant as “not having the fear of god before his eyes but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil.”
Origin:	1799
Contributor(s):	Bartlet: Bartlett: Gregory, Samuel; Logan, David; Montgomery, William, Col.; Montgomery, William; Decker, Luke; Gamelin, Pierre;
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/kcpl/id/43534
Collection:	Knox County Public Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Copyright:	No Copyright - United States
Geography:	Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana, United States
Subjects:	Black people -- America -- History African Americans -- History Black people -- History Slave records Slave labor Slavery Slaveholders Enslaved women Enslaved men Slavery -- Law and legislation Indentured servants Indiana -- Northwest Indiana -- History Vincennes (Ind.) Knox County (Ind.)

Further information on this record can be found at its source.