Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1866-02-16

RAsum DAak CAsss.-In the District
Court, during the present session, tae f,l-
loving cases have been disposed Of. They
will Be found interesting TO the special de
tenders Of "down -tsodden" Africa:
nAsy STEVENS vs.. San. LITTLE.
Action for wages, under specific contract.
Mary is eolored womsn-upwards Of 80
yssrs Of ags-whs in order - gain an hon
eat living, engaged 70 work in the family Of
ees Samuel iitsls-a thorough going, loud
talking, ,uusdulterated abolitionist mem.
Der Of the County Board Of Supervisors.
Mary worked hard Is months, but couldn't
get her psy - sgrsed ppon. and bad to
tue. II was shown 10 the evidence that
daring her service for Sam, this poor old
woman Had plewed 20 OF 80 acres Of land,
planted corn. worked In the harvest field.
gathered corn, groomed the horses, cooked
for the hmily, fattened IL hogs, scrubbed
one lousy colt, bathed Sam cap a pie in .
state Of nature, and was fattered for her
pains with sundry compliments that would
not look we'll in print. It also appeared
that Mary aud one Of Sans family found
four turkey which they drove 70 the house
and provided for. Mary had two for her
share. She swappsf them for two ducks.
and upon the maintainance Of the ducks
on the premises . dispute arose between
her and her employer, which eliminated in
his knocking the poor old woman down
with the butt end Of his whip. She left
tho premises-couldn't get her paw As
sgreed up so cents per day-so action
WAS brought. The jury gave her the case.
After allowing oil the charges on Sans
b ,oks there was $l56.0O still in her favor
C,mment upon this specimen Of the prac
tical workings Of abolition sympathy 10
quite unnecessary.
Axornsa.-And herein is set forth spe-
cimen Of Abolition sympathy in another
but none the less misdirected:
LUCY TAYLOR VS.. L. C. DISTANT.
Action for % years service, At $40 per
week, making sll 10000. Herein it ap-
pears that some - years ago Defendant,
then living in st. Louis, purchased plain
.;~. slave, paying $270. Eleven years
IL
thereafter the tam. '''y '"e'.1e
came to this city. Lucy became 49,,
course. but getting well alon in years, she
was offered the chance Of remaining in the
family as long as she chose to do SO for her
living, and 10 bs protected to the day Of her
death. This arrangement worked well for
eleven years more; but in an evil hour
some uitra>svmpathizer Of down trodden
Africa, sought Lucy out-told her how she
had spent her valuable life for nothing
and advised with her to make Dessaint pay
her SO. per week for all those % years and
upwards She took their advice took big
notions into her head, and one day under
took to set up as second master Of the Dcs-
saint household. That, as may be imagin-
ed, Of amicabie relations, and Lucy took
her two trunks full Of good clothing and
left In bringing suit lucy swore to her
Just CLAIM Of ten dollars per week for %
years. Council for Lucy claimed that
thero never had been and never could be
such thing as property in human Aesh
and blood-hence when flesh and blood
worked for another it could sustain DANA
ges for wages-all who had been slaves had
the same right to collect wages from their
masters. Ire Court, however, ruled, in
that under the circumstances Of
the case, ~ brought out in the evidence,
Luch had no just cause fer action,
and could not safely count upon verdict
The jury retircd-was out al night. We
will take the reader into the jury room. On
it stood evenly divided. No
amount Of talk or reasoning changed the
>tatus. F,nslly one Juryman favo' able
Lucy 6t0tSO tU1t Iu1SuuCu SS suo " ~ uOS
under the law entitled to damages, he would
propose to make up private purse for
her-hs would give Is, provided tho rest
would do likewise. That proposition fail
ing, another vas made to give Lucy YER
dict for $50 any how-she was poor old
woman and needed it, and it was just moth
ing for Dissaint TO pay. That didn't work
did any other plan-so the jur-
ors all fell back to the FIRST principles and
stood fair and sn",re six and six.
Whether Lucy's friends will yet presist
in following up the raid is yet to be seen.
Our advice would be o give Lucy the money
they would spend u Law, and let the mat
ter drop where it is, - foolish undertak-
ing.