(PRISON) Broadside for a Reconstruction era horse thief Stop

Sale 2663 - Lot 361

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Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500

(PRISON.) Broadside for a Reconstruction-era horse thief: "Stop the Thief! $50 Reward!" Letterpress broadside, 12 x 9¼ inches; moderate foxing, mount remnants on verso top edge; uncut. Anderson Court House, SC, circa February 1868

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A broadside reward poster for "Bob Thompson . . . a mulatto, about 25 years old, 5 feet 6 or 7 inches high, blind in one eye, keeps it partly closed . . . has very black hair, resembling that of an Indian, cut short at this time. He is a notorious burglar and horse thief; has broken open several stores, smoke-houses &c in this State." South Carolina newspapers show that he was arrested on 1 February, and as this notice explains, escaped on 6 February "by jumping from the train between Alston and Littleton, S.C. . . . was handcuffed when last heard from." He was recaptured on 10 March and confined to Charleston Jail. According to the Anderson Intelligencer of 25 March 1868, handbills were "distributed over this and adjoining states. One of these handbills found its way to Adams' Run, on the coast," where Thompson was recognized. "Bob stoutly denied being the culprit, but the negroes were not satisfied, and sent for advice to a prominent negro in the vicinity, who felt authorized to cause his arrest." Thompson, who had been enslaved until the Civil War, was sentenced to ten years of hard labor in the penitentiary. He escaped briefly in February 1869, May 1872 (using forged pardon papers), and March 1874.