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Nathaniel
Owen vs. Jacob Bale, contributed by Alan Jones
OWENS says that last fall his negro, Bob, ran away. OWENS says Jacob BALE seduced the negro to runaway and did secrete him with a view to purchasing him at an undervalue. OWENS sold Bob to BALE for $400, OWENS says BALE planned the escape. BALE offered OWENS $100 for him, and said that was enough "for a negro that had run off to Pennsylvania." OWENS said BALE told Bob to go to Lexington, but Bob went toward Nolin1. BALE left word for Bob to come home and amazingly, Bob returned. OWENS says BALE called
Bob to him in the Lash2 field before he ran away. The answer of Jacob BALE - He says the statement
is slanderous that he harbored Bob. He paid $400 for Bob.
Besides Bob's bad habits, he's of very precarious health, which
has been artfully concealed by OWENS. BALE told OWENS if he would retract
his statements he might have Bob back. BALE did not in anyway attempt
to harbor Bob. Deposition of Joseph COGDAL taken Dec. 31, 1810 at the home of Wm HERNDON. He says: Early in
Dec. 1809, I had been to Greensburg and on my way home I was in the company
of Jacob BALE where he had stopped with his wagon to take in a load of
shingles. Nathaniel OWENS came up at that time and made a halt. We were
both invited to help in with the shingles. After the load was in, BALE,
OWENS, and myself started. OWENS asked BALE where a path took
off that led to Capt. GOLDSBY's. BALE said he would show it to him
when we got there. I think it was between sunset and dark when we got
to the path. The first chat was by Jacob BALE about Mr. OWENS.
Bob being run away. BALE suggested that Bob had gone to
the same place that he had gone the last time he ran away. OWENS said
he thought Bob was still in the neighborhood and would come in
as soon as some person would buy him. BALE immediately offered to buy
him. OWENS said he'd sell him for what he was worth. OWENS said if BALE
got him he could pay, and if he didn't he wouldn't pay. OWENS wanted to
sell him on surety, but BALE wanted to buy on chance. BALE told me he
wanted me to change my memory about the conversation, which made
me think about it more clearly. The next day I rode with BALE to Wm MUNFORDS.
I asked BALE if he was serious on buying the chance on the negro and he
said yes. He would give a hundred dollar horse for Bob. Deposition of Wm TRIBBLE, taken at hom of Wm HERNDON on Dec, 31, 1810. TRIBBLE says he and
OWENS were at the home of Jacob BALE, when OWENS said he would finish
the trade. BALE offered OWENS $100, but OWENS refused. OWENS said Bob
was still in the neighborhood, because he had not taken his clothes. Mr.
BALE then offered $300 for him, but OWENS wanted $400. BALE took it. Depostion of John DURRETT taken on Dec. 31, 1810. DURRET was at Mr.
RAFFITERS with BALE and OWENS when they discussed BALE buying the
negro. I heard Mr. BUCKNER, James tell BALE what he said. James said he
told BALE that he saw Bob and asked Bob why he didn't go
home to his master and didn't he know BALE has bought him. Bob
said he knew it and had been there, and BALE had directed him, in order
that BALE had might appear innocent, to go towards Danville or Lexington
and ther be taken up as a runaway and say he belongs to OWENS. Bob
told him he'd go to Nolin and stay with a free negro. Deposition of Wm BUCKNER taken on Dec. 31, 1810. Nathaniel OWENS came to Green county Circuit Court to inform me that his negro, Bob, had run away. He wanted me to check with a negro I have and inquire if he had seen Bob. The negro said he hadn't seen Bob, but understood that he was to runaway to BALE and BALE would keep him until OWENS was willing to sell him. I wrote to OWENS, and he, Gen'l BARBEE and John THURMAN came to my house and we wrote to BALES. Asking him to meet us at Wm SYMPSON Jr. and answer charges. BALE didn't come. They later met at W. RAFFITIES and discussed it. The negro was called on and he said about new year 1810 he saw Bob at old Mr. SKAGGS. Bob told him he'd seen BALE who told him to go to Danville. 1 Nolin was a river in 1810 but has since been damned up to serve as a lake and resort. 2 This was clearly written as "Lash" but later references call it "Lick." Which is a Salt Lick where natural salt is found in the ground. Deposition of Wm HERNDON. Says in March, 1809,
he hired Bob for 10 mos. from OWENS. In the fall, OWENS informed
him that he needed Bob. I told OWENS if I couldn't keep Bob
until I returned from Orleans that I would give him up. I was convinced
that Bob had stolen 2 pair of shoes when working at the Lick. A
few days later, Bob came on my plantation and I informed him of
the changes and told him to never set a foot on my property again unless
his master sent him. I reported the theft to OWENS. OWENS and I went to
the field to see Bob. Bob denied stealing them, but said
he had bought them from a negro man that had taken them from his master.
OWENS told him, not to deny it, and shamed him, but very moderately. Bob
ran away that evening. OWENS asked if I would help find him. We thought
going to see Jim at Mr. BUCKNER's would be a good start because he was
honest. He had a negro woman of old Henry SKAGGS for a wife. She was the
mother of Bob's wife and both living on the same plantation. Jim
said that Jacob BALE had told Bob to come there and he would conceal
him and buy him and he wouldn't have to go to OWENS again. Bob's
wife was to go to BALE's mill in a few days. She did and said that KERSEY's
wife (BALE's daughter) had told her that they had Bob in a very
secure place but that KERSEY talked of moving him. BALE had Bob
concealed in a cave where he had at one time concealed YATES' Milly. He
feared that BALES was a bad man and would be a means of corrupting more
negros besides Bob. Later, Bob asked HERNDON if he had heard
the story that he was harboring Bob. HERNDON told him yes and I
gave him the details. Mr. BALE was going to call OWENS to an account for
what he said about his harboring Bob. They met at my boat. They
sat on the rocks and talked. BALE said that he hoped OWENS didn't think
he was as bad a man as the circumstances were against him. BALE said he
had called Bob out of the field to ask why he had left HERNDON's.
They came back to the boat and OWENS made a public declaration of what
he had said. Deposition of Nancy HERNDON taken on Dec. 31, 1810 Says Bob worked
for her husband and Wm HERNDON in the spring of 1809. He worked at the
salt works. He took 2 pair of shoes. Wm went to OWENS to inform him of
Bob's conduct. The same day, Jacob BALE came to her house and asked
questions about Bob. He asked if OWENS was going to send Bob
down the river with HERNDON. She told him that she didn't think so. BALE
said Bob told him that OWENS intended sending him down the river
for pilfering, and I wanted to know if it was true. Nancy told him about
the shoes being stolen. BALE said it would all cause Bob to take
a trip and he would cross the Atlantic Ocean and OWENS would never get
him again. BALE said Bob was an honest man and OWENS was a bad
master. Later, in another conversation, BALE told Nancy that he didn't
say Bob would run away and that he had never heard of such a place
as the Atlantic Ocean. Deposition of Charles SKAGGS taken April 27, 1811. Says he had a conversation
with Nathaniel OWENS. OWENS stated that he had attempted to tie a negro
fellow of his, by the name of Bob, for stealing some shoes, but
the negro ran off from him and lost his hat on the way. He was also with
OWENS when he told BALE that Bob had been in his charge for some
time, and he would not charge for the time if he would give Bob
back to him. BALE told him that if OWENS would sit him down on the same
ground that he took up, he would give him the negro. OWENS made no reply. Deposition of Wm VAUGHAN. OWENS came to my father's
after Bob had run away and BALE had bought him. My father asked
OWENS if he had gotten the negro that ran away. OWENS said yes, that he
had got him in black and white. He said he sold him to BALE for $400.
My father said that was a high price to give for a runaway negro in Pennsylvania
and he wouldn't have done it. Deposition of Archibald RHEA taken Dec. 17, 1810. He was present at the conversation of OWENS and BALE at the boat on Green River. BALE said when he was going to Mr. COWHERD's, he saw Bob hauling corn in a field that belonged to OWENS. He called to Bob and asked if he was home from HERNDONs and then asked the way to Mr. COWHERDs. OWENS accused BALE of harboring Bob in a cave and also of harboring YATE's negro. Deposition of James DeSPAIN taken Dec. 15, 1810. He heard OWENS say
that the reason he suspected BALE of having Bob was because he
had a negro, Moses to run away. OWENS got Peter DeSPAIN and FISHER to
go look for him. They went by James GOLDSBY's, who went with them. When
they go to BALE's, DeSPAIN and FISHER stopped and GOLDSBY went to the
house. He called or knocked. There was a candle lit in the house. He asked
BALES who was lying by the fire. BALES said he didn't know because he
had just come from the mill. GOLDSBY told him it was Moses who had run
away. He told BALE to guard the door while he got the other men. When
he returned, BALE was at a different door and Moses was gone. Later, BALE
purchased Moses. Deposition of Capt. James GOLDSBY taken Dec. 15, 1810. Says a few years ago,
after OWENS returned from a journey to Pennsylvania with a negro called
Bob, who had run away, Peter D'SPAIN and a FISHER called me in
the night when I was in bed to go with them to find Moses, a negro belonging
to OWENS and had run away. We went by Wm GOFF's and on to Mr. BALE's.
We decided that I should go to the door. I saw by a candle that someone
was lying on the floor and asked BALE who it was. He didn't know. He said
it wasn't one of the boys from the mill. I told him mit was Moses and
asked him to guard the door while I got the other two men. Two of us would
go to the back door and the other to the front door with him and take
him. We saw someone come out but couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman
in the fob. We spoke and he jumped over the fence and ran away. We chased
but lost him. I asked BALE why he didn't guard the door and he said he
went to the back door. Deposition of Robert McCLANAHAN. I was told by OWENS
and others that BALE was harboring negroes (Bob and Moses) in order
to purchase them, and that he even went to a field where Bob was
working and called him to him and had a conversation with him. I was told
when he observed some person laying on the floor in his house, he suspected
it was someone of the mill. When GOLDSBY came, BALE said he was directed
to go to the back door, which he did, BALE saw Moses get up and go out
the front door where he thought the men do be and would catch him. BALE
requested me to go with him to a place belonging to General BARBEE where
the affair was to be dismissed. I went and on the way we passed a field
of Mr. OWENS where he had talked to Bob, I had mentioned this to
BALE at an earlier time and he denied it. At this time, BALE observed
that the negro was not working at the upper tract of the field, but was
at work not exceeding 30 yards from the fence. BALE said he was asking
directions. Deposition of Wm UNDERWOOD taken Feb. 19, 1811 at the home of Joseph AKIN. I understood that
a contract had taken place between BALE and OWENS for a negro called Bob.
BALE told me he had given $400 for the chance to get Bob. Bob
is an excellent farmhand, hustler, and waggoner. Deposition of Gibson UNDERWOOD taken Feb. 25, 1811 at Daniel BROWN's. He was at Jacob BALE's
mill in Jan. 1810. A negro came to the opposite side of the creek and
called. My cousin, Chitester UNDERWOOD and I went and brought him
across. He had a blanket tied to his back. My cousin told me it was the
negro that OWENS had sold to BALE. He was cleanly dressed, so didn't look
XXXXXXXXXXX the man often now, BXXXX. Deposition of Chiterister UNDERWOOD taken Feb. 25, 1811. Repeated the story
of Gibson UNDERWOOD. Deposition of Wm SKAGGS. I advised BALE to
give Bob up to OWENS. BALE said if he would place him in the same
footing that he was before that he would give him up, but OWENS would
whip him. Deposition of Charles BROWNLEE. I heard BALE say he
called the negro to the fence to ask directions to James COWHERD's. He
had thought Bob was working at HERNDON's. Deposition of Joseph SRIGLEY taken Dec. 20. 1810. I was with OWENS and
BALE when they were loading a wagon with shingles. I heard the conversation
where BALE offered $100 for the runaway negro, because he might be in
Pennsylvania. Deposition of Jacob CAULK taken Dec. 20, 1810. He lived at Mr. BALE's
and attended to his sawmill nearly 5 weeks (except Sundays) in par of
November and December, 1809. During that time, he heard about Bob
running away. He, CAULK, was with BALE both day and night, but never saw
the negro there. When I worked for McCLANAHAN, I heard OWENS talking to
McCLANAHAN about getting the negro back again. He was Robert McCLANAHAN.
He lived in the neighborhood of John K ABNEY and Joseph SRIGLEY. Robert
is the only person that I know of by that name in Green Co. I sometimes
helped in the grist mill at BALES. Deposition of Robert McCLANAHAN. He was asked by the
complainant - "Was I ever more than once at your stillhouse?"
No. Deposition of Elizabeth KERSEY. She never communicated
with Bob's wife or any other negro, that he had Bob. Mr.
CAULK said that Mr. OWENS went to his stillhouse where McCLANAHAN was
and they were discussing Bob. Deposition of John KERSEY. He knew nothing about Bob while run away, nor did he ever talk of concealing him. In
these court records there is no indication of the outcome of this case.
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