Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-07-10
TEE Rr1>n TOM CAsE.-In the Z. S.


counsel for petitioner, a recess of hail an
hour was granted them to look into the
new matter raised by the amended returns.
After lie recess counsel claimed that Ihs;
court had jurisdiction of the case, and That
the Fauauier county court had not, and
/ never could have acquired jurisdiction that
Bethune came in possession OF B!lnd Tom
when he was babe Of eight months and
! slave: that he bad used him to his profit, as
| he had right to do until his emancipation !;
that then he entered into a contract with
! his uarents and continued to make profits
out of him; that Bethune proceeded to Eau
ouier county in 1870 and applied to the
| court Of that county to have Tom declared
81 luuatic, and he, Bethune, was appointed q
i committee for him; that Tom had not &C.
! uui.ed a residence there, as Mr.. Bethune
] had travelled with him from place to place,
and came to Virginia from New York.
The Judge here asked counsel where
Blind Tom resided when he became OF age
and counsel replied that he thought Tom
lived in Georgia.
| General Bethune then made statement
explaining his possession OF Blind Iom
| from the acquisition Of him.
The Judge decided that General Bethune
became resident of Virginia in 1870, and
that Tom being then in Bethunes possession
under contract, he also became RESIDENT
and that the court of Fauquier had jurisdic
| ton.
After argument as to the jurisdiction of
the court ard the means adopted by Be-
thune to retain Tom, counsel for the petit
TONERS aske for Toms discharge under the
14,h and 18th amendments TO the Consti-
tuition.
Upon tho presentation of tho case the
Judge said
Charity Virgins, mother Of Thomas Wig
gins, or Thomas Bethune or "Blind Tom,"
files her petition, alleging, among other
things, that her son is held i'll slavery by
James \. Bethune, 10 whom both mother
and son belonged before the proclamation
Of emancipation. Other allegations are
made in the petition which do not touch the
merits of the case, as it stands in this court.
The only possible ground on which have
jurisdiction of this petition is the single one
of Blind Toms being held IS a slave. The
petitioner is his mother. She and her hus-
band and Tom, their son, were slaves OF Jas.
| n. Bethune, and resident with Bethune in
Georgia When Tom was at the age of lG,
and had ceased to be slave, by proclama-
ton, the petitioner and his father entered
| into y contract with James n. Bethune, by
which they turned Tom over TO Bethune 10
be employee in giving concerts. The contract
lasted by express terms till Tom was OF age
namely until May %, 1870. By this contract
| TIE mother abandoned her maternal right Of
guardianship over Tom, and negatlved
the idea that Tom was still the slave of
Bethune On the 25th of July, 1870, Be-
thune, having for some years been citizen
OF Virginia, and resident of Fauquier county,
| -...l ,Lar \ hn,, hal
applied to The County Court of Fauqner for
proceedings l"natico inTirendo, the result
| of which was an order OF that court declar-
ing Tom to be a lunatic and commit
ting him to John G.. Bethune, son of
James n. Bethune, as his committee.
No objection was made to this commitment
by the petitioner, his mother, until March
Iast--tcr period of fifteen years. Then,
and not until then, she fled her petition for
q writ of hGbcds corpus before the Judge Of
tho County Court Of Fauquier, assailing the
validity OF the commitment in 1870 That
court, on full argument and proofs, over.
| ruled the objections of the petitioner, and
remanded Tom TO the custody of James n.
Bethune who, on the death of John G. Be-
thune. had been substituted as Toms COM
m!,tce. The action of that court on the va
lidi,y OF this commitment Of Tom is con-
elusive Oh this court, rs to the question OF
luaacy No principle is moro firmly settled
than the principle that the writ of habeas
corpus cannot DO used as an appellate
proceeding to induce ono court to re-
view the ruling of another court of
original and competent Jurisdiction.
] can. therefore, have nothing to do with the
subject of lunacy. My only enquiry is whether
Tom is hcld;as n slave do not SEQ how the petit
toner in this case his mother, after her contract
Of 500 aud her acquesccnce for fifteen years in
the action Of the Fauquicr Court in committing
Tom 10 Bcthune, father and son, can now in
| sist that he is held slave. He is in fine
health ne is remarkably well dressed, he seems
happy and c"ntentnd, he treats with decided aver
sion the idea o! his being taken from the Bethuncs
| Evidently he is not held as slave. l therefore
have no right ar jurisdiction to remove him from
his present custody, and feel bound i'll the in
tcrest of humanity TO remand him to tho custody
in which he was b Irn, i'll which hc has lived all
| lis life and which he is anxious to remain.
will sign an order rcmacding him to the custody
of his Committee, James N. Bethune
During the trial Of the case, in order to
allow the court to form an opinion of the
mental condition of Tom, several questions
were propounded to him by the court, to
all OF which he gave fairly intelligent
answers, but would invariably say that he
wanted to stay with Gen. Bethune and 60
back 10 Warrenton. Several little "spats''
took place during the trial between the op.
posing counsel, which, at one time, was
stopped by the court, but after the decision
By the Judge amicable relations were re.
established. In conversation with Mr..
B=thune, the reporter of the GAZETTE was
given the following Information concerning
Tom:
Tom was born in Muscogee county, near Colum.
bus, Ga, May %, 1910. He showed a loves for
music when between three and four years of age.
He was always pct in General Bethunes family
aud made a few cursory trips up to 1868, at
which time his parents indenturcd him to Gen.
| Bethanc on q contract approved by them and con-
irmcd by federal authority at Augusta, Ga, and
ut Cincinnati, o. When Tom became of age, in
1870 General Bethune having in the meantime
removed in 1865, to Warrenton, Va with John
q. Bcthune, his oldest son, was selected by the
proper courts to take charge of him. Tom S
father was never in the North that anybody
knows Of. Neither no nor Toms mother ever
aud ,hnr-