(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION) McCalley John W Letter describing an

Sale 2503 - Lot 25

Price Realized: $ 1,375

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

"HE HAS BEEN TROUBLESOME . . . BEING SUSPECTED OF AN INTENT TO BURN THE HOUSE" (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) McCalley, John W. Letter describing an escaped slave and the circumstances surrounding his flight. Autograph Letter Signed to his brother, William in Huntsville, AL. 3 pages, 10 x 7 1/2 inches, on one folding sheet, with address panel on verso bearing faint inked postmark stamp and "5" stamp; minor soiling and wear. Thornburg, VA, 20 August 1851

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McCalley writes regarding a runaway slave and the course of action to take should he be found. The letter includes a great deal of detail on the circumstances leading up to the man's flight to freedom. "George, as you have been informed, has escaped. I think about twelve months, I have had no authentic tidings of his whereabouts. Of the various rumours that have reached me, one was that he was passing as a free man under an assumed name, tho I have been in the place that he is said to frequent & could obtain no certain clue to his retreat. . . . I suggest that should he be found that he be sold as the property of the estate & no further trouble taken with him. . . . My reason mainly is that I could not keep him without great risque & trouble. He has been troublesome in the neighborhood of Mr. Trigg, the owner of his wife from whom he separated, & was disorderly in other respects, being suspected of an intent to burn the house of Mr Trigg & committed to jail."