The Kanzas news., 1857-06-06
H,,u he ST. Louis Neuus.

From The st. Lozis FezDs.
The Original Dred Scott q Resident OF
st. LoaSs--Sketch Of his History.
The distinguished ooIored individual who
has made such noise m the world In the
case of Scott VS.. Sanford, and who has be-
come so tangled up with the Missouri Com
promise and other great subjeets-Dred
SCOTS a resident, not a citizen, of st.
Louis He is well known to many of our
citizens, and may frequently be seen passing
along Third street. He is an old inhabisant,
having come to this city thirty years ago.
Dred Scott was born In Virginia, where
he belonged to Capt. Peter Blow, the father
of Henry I. Blow and Taylor Blow, of this
city. He was brought by his master to st.
Louis about thirty years ago. and IN course
of time became the property OF DIR. Emer-
son, surgeon IN the army, whom ne ac-
companied on that trip to Rock Island and
Fort Smelling, ON the ground of which ne
based his claim to freedom. The wife of DR..
Emerson was formerly Miss Sanford, and Is
now Mrs. Chaffee, wife of Hon. Mr. Chat
fee, of Massachusetts,. He has been married
twice, his first wife, by whom he had no
children, having been sold from him. He
has had four children by his present wife.
two boys, both dead, and two girls, both
living. Dred was at Corpus Christi, at the
breaking out of the Mexican war, as the ser
want of Captain Bainbridge, whom he speaks
of as s'good man.
On his return from Mexico he applied to
his mistress, Mrs. Emerson, then living near
st. Louis, for the purchase of himself and
family, offering to pay part of the money
down, and give an eminent citizen of st.
! Louis, an officer In the army, as security for
the payment of the remainder. His mis-
tress refused his proposition, and Dred be-
| ing informed that he was entitled to his free
dom by the operation of the laws regulating
the Northwest Territory, forthwith brought
suit for it. The suit was commenced about
ten years ago, and has cost bred $500 In
cash. besides labor to nearly equal amount.
1t has given him cheap O. trouble he
/ says, and if he had known that sit was
| gwine to last so long, he would not have
brought it. The suit was defended by Mr..
/ John Sanford, as executor of DR.. Emerson IS
will.
/ Dred does not appear to be at all dscour-
AGED by the issue of the celebrated case, al
| though it dooms him to slavery. He talks
1 about the affair with the ease of veteran
| litigant, though not in technical language,
\ and is hugely tickled at the idea of finding
himself a parsonage of such Importance
4 He does not take on airs, however, but laughs
heartily when talking of ode fuss dey made
dar in Washington, bout de ole nigger.'
i He is about 55 years old, we should think,
though he does not know his own age. He
is unmixed African blood, and as black as a
piece of charcoal For two or three years
past he has been running at large, no one ex-
ercising ownership over him, or putting any
restraint upon his movements. If he were
4 disposed to make the attempt, he could gain
his freedom at much less cost than even
one-tenth of the expense of the famous suit.
He viii not do SO, however, insisting on
abiding by the principles involved in the de-
cision of the suit. He declares that he viii
stick to his mistress as long as he lives
His daughters, Eliza and Lizzy, less con-
scious about the matter, took advantage o1
the absence of the restraint on their move
ments, year or two since, to disappear, and
! their whereabouts remain mystery.
i Dred, though illiterate, is not Ignorant
!, He has travelled considerably, and has i'm
proved his stock of strong common sense by
much information picked up in his journey
, ings. He is anxious to know who owns
him, being ignorant whether he is the prop
erty of Mrs. Chaffee, or Mrs. Sanford, tho
we presume there is no doubt that the former
: is his legal owner. He seems tired of run
ming about with no one to look after him,
while at the same time he is a slave. He
says grinningiy, that he could make thou
sands of dollars, if allowed, by travelling
over the country and telling who he is.