Soaper v. Tom

THIS was an appeal of murder, the proceedings where.of are as follows, to wit; 44 Command was given to the sheriff of Frederick “ County, that if Sarah Soaper, tvidow, who was the wife 56 of Thomas Soaper, should make him secure of prosecu-. 44 ting her clamour, then he should attach Negro Tom, M (the slave of John Gantt,) late of Frederick County, 61 labourer, by his body, so that he might have him before 54 the Justices of his Lordship’s Provincial Court, to be 44 held at the City of Annapolis, on the second Tuesday of 44 September then next, to answer unto the aforesaid Sarah, 44 for the death of the aforesaid Thomas Soaper, formerly 54 her husband, wherewith she appealed him j and that 44 he should have then and there that writ, &c. 44 At which said second Tuesday of September, to wit, 44 the 10th day of the same month in the year 1765, being 44 the day of the return of the foregoing recited writ, comes 44 the said Sarah Soaper, by Edmund Key, her attorney; 44 and the sheriff of Frederick Count)7, to whom the same 44 writ was directed, makes return thereof to the Court 44 here thus endorsed, to wit: Pledges for prosecuting, "c John Cooke, Esquire, and Major Joseph Sim. 44 Geo. Murdoch, Sheriff. 44 Cepi Geo. Murdoch, Sheriff 44 And the said Sarah Soaper, by her attorney aforesaid, 44 declares against the said Negro Tom in the plea afore44 said, as follows, to wit s 44 Maryland, to wit s Negro Tom, late of Frederick ■54 County, labourer, formerly the slave of Jolm Gantt, otf ²²⁸ “ Prince George’s County, gentleman, but now the slave “ of Samuel Swearingen, of Frederick County, inn-holder, “ was attached by his body to answer unto Sarah Soaper, sc widow, who was the wife of Thomas Soaper, of the “ death of the aforesaid Thomas Soaper, formerly her husband, whereof she appeals him, the said Negro Tom; “ and yohn Cooke and yoseph Sim, of Prince George’s “ County, are pledges of prosecuting. “ And whereupon the said Sarah, by Edmund Key, her tl attorney, according to the form of the statute in such “ cases made and provided, within one year appeals the “ aforesaid Negro Tom of this, that the aforesaid Thomas “ Soaper, being in the peace of God, and the Right “ Honourable the Lord Proprietary that now is, • at the “ parish of Shieen Anne’s in Prince George’s County, on “ the, &c. (as in an indictment for murder,) and if the “