civil suit

Louisa Hagans fights for her horse.

In 1888, Louisa Staton Hagans filed suit against Applewhite Lane & Company, alleging that the company had wrongfully foreclosed on a horse belonging to her, not her in-laws. Hagans, her deceased husband’s mother, sister, and brother-in-law had lived on the same rented farm. Mariah Hagans and her son-in-law Moses Vick had entered into a chattel mortgage agreement with farm suppliers Applewhite Lane and Company. The families worked the farm together, but without Clem Hagans’ labor could not make a crop and they relinquished their property. At issue were some equipment and a bay mare named Daisy, which Louisa Hagans claimed belonged to her husband Clem, not his mother Mariah Hagans, and thus should not have been taken. She sought $150 in damages.

The transcripts of testimony, lightly edited for clarity:

Louisa Hagans vs. Applewhite Lane &c.  } Evidence for Plaintiff

George Stated [Staton?] being duly sworn testified. Lived last year and year before with S.H. Whitley & year before lived in Edgecombe. Knew Clem Hagans, was husband of Plaintiff Louisa Hagans. He moved to Wilson about four years ago. He had a colt which he brought with him. His father give the colt to him. Helped his father pay a debt of $300. Give his colt in payment. Offered to buy the colt. Said can’t sell him. Had let Clem have him, couldn’t sell him. He moved up here about four years ago. Died last year. He and Louisa was living together as husband & wife. She owned this colt when he died.

X Ex [cross-examination] Came with his father about four years ago. I brought the colt. Colt was in Clem’s father’s stable when in Edgecombe. Clem lived with his mother since they lived in Wilson. Was to help pay his father out of debt. Clem said to his father. Father you won’t give him to me. Was call as a witness to agreement that he was to let him have the colt on condition that he helped him pay the debt. He did help. His father, son if you will help me pay out of debt, I will make you present of this colt. Clem said father, you won’t do it. He called me as a witness to it. Clem went on he and his wife and worked that that year out. And his father paid out of debt. Put it on his account book that it was Clems colt and called me as a witness to it. That was the last I heard of it. It was about four years ago.

Re Direct, I brought the colt to Wilson. It was Clems colt, I had no doubt about it.

J.E.N. Gorham testified. Clem Hagans and his family stayed on my place last year. I made the arrangements with Clem. His mother Mariah Hagans lived on the same land. He said he had team enough to cultivate a two horse farm. Clem owned the younger horse & his mother the old one. Clem died in Sept last on my place.

X Ex. Took no mortgage on his stock. He refused to mortgage his own horse and said he had no right to mortgage the other. They all worked together on the same farm.

Report of Commissioners to lay off Louisa Hagans years support marked “A” offered in evidence by plaintiff, including one bay horse valued at $150. See Exhibit marked “A”.

Mariah Hagans testified. I am the mother of Clem Hagans. My husband had been dead nearly 4 years. Will be 4 years next old Christmas. We lived in Edgecomb County with Mr. Edmundson before coming to Wilson. Clem Hagans died in Sept last year. Clem left a horse, plows, weeding hoes & shovel and a cotton planter as his property. The young horse was the one his father promised to give him. I was living with Mr. Gorham when Clem died. All lived in same field. I and my daughter & Mose Vines her husband lived together. Clem & his wife & children lived at the other place. I owned a horse which was kept where he kept his own. I moved to Mr. Frank Lanes after leaving Mr. Gorhams place. I made an arrangement to trade with Applewhite Lane & Co. Gave them a mortgage signed by me and Mose. When I mortgaged my horse Mr. Lane said I mortgaged both. My understanding was when I made the mortgage that I mortgaged mine and Mose mortgaged Louisa’s horse. After Clems death Louisa continued to live at same place.

Ex. This was the horse the old man my husband promised to give Clem. He had no right to give the horse. He and all the horses were mine. I claim all the property. My son always claimed the horse because I and my husband promised to give it to him. I give the charge of it while he lived to him, and he said before his death if you can’t all agree, for me to sell the horse and keep the money for the children. We all lived together before my husband died. My son died the next day after talking about the horse. He said at the time he was going to die. Have no children living. Six grandchildren. Louisa & her children have been living with me this year. I supported them from Mr. Lanes Store, or Applewhite Lane &c. Told Louisa last summer the horse was mortgaged. It was necessary to mortgage it to get support for her & her children. Louisa did most of the trading. I went only ones [sic]. All carried on the farm together. All this property including the horse I had the possession of and the control over it. Louisa was present when Mr. Lane took the horse and did not object. I and Louisa were present when the horse was sold. We made no objection.

Re D. The only right Clem had to the horse was by word of mouth from his father. I could have taken the horse away at any time but I did not. It was generally understood that the horse belonged to Clem while he lived. At his death it was to come back to me. I bought the mother of the colt from my old master. Give $185 for her and raised this colt from her. My husband was sold out one. They sold everything except the mother of this hours. She was not sold because she belonged to me. I never raised any objection to the colt going to Clem as long as he lived. Didn’t consider I had any reason to raise any objection, because he lived with me and I got the benefits of the horses labor. I raised no objection after his death, but I raise it now. I have had possession of the horse heretofore. The reason I said Louisa traded the most was because I sent her after the things, provisions, &c. Mr. Lane said when he took the horse that he would put her in the pasture. Neither of us raised any objection. I was told to come to town but did not know what was to be done until I got here. Don’t know whether Louisa was present when the horse was sold, but we both had been at the place when he was to be sold and knew he was to be sold. We were both within hearing when the horse was sold. Louisa is hard of hearing and I don’t know whether she heard or not.

X Ex. Louisa traded at the store after she knew the horse was mortgaged . I sent her there.

Defendants Evidence

Mr HB Lane being duly sworn testified. I wrote the mortgage offered in evidence marked “B.” That’s it contains the horse in dispute. Mariah Hagans mortgages the horse to Applewhite Lane & Co. She represented that the horse was her property. I advanced her supplies upon the faith of the property mortgaged. I advanced her about $270. I took possession of the property, she voluntarily surrendered it. She said she could not finish the crop and preferred giving the property up then. We advertised the property according to the mortgage for 30 days and sold it at the Court House door in Wilson. The property brought $134.50. Horse brought $40. Good crowd present. Several bids made. Horse was in bad condition. I bought all the property for the firm. They have it now. They allowed $70 for the work done on the crop. Leaving $200 due on account of the stock. Notified her of sale & Louisa came with her. Neither made objection to the sale. Louisa did the trading. Mariah came once. They all lived together. After the first bill, the bill was mostly for necessary provisions &c for themselves & horses. Bought feed for two horses.

X Ex. Mariah represented she had two horses to secure the advances. Got Moses to sign to convey his interest in the crop. I bought the property because I thought it was worth more. Sold 2 horses and 2 iron axle carts & gear. Took charge of no other property.

Mariah Hagans was recalled. These two carts were bought in 1886 when we were staying at Mr. Calvin Woodards. Clem bought them, one for himself and one for me. Never have claimed her cart, that belonged to him, but I claim the horse. Kept all together when we lived at Gorham’s. Don’t know whether Louisa objected to the sale of the cart. When Clem authorized me to sell the horse and other property, he said nothing about the cart. Never was any division of the carts. Used that cart this year. Clem left everything in my charge when he died. I owned one and Clem owned the other. We owned them in conjunction.

Louisa Hagans. There were two carts. One that had blue wheels belonged to my husband Clem Hagans. The one with red wheels was called Mariah’s cart. Clem left when he died 1 cart 1 horse 2 plows 1 cotton planter a hoe & shovel

X Ex. He claimed the blue cart.

Louisa Hagans’ attorney, John F. Bruton, reached a settlement with Applewhite Lane’s attorneys, F.A. and S.A. Woodard. Applewhite Lane would pay her $18, but were awarded the property and court costs. By time Hagans paid the court and Bruton’s fees, she likely came away with little.

——

  • Louisa Hagans

In the 1870 census of Lower Conetoe township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: farmer Willis Staton, 35; wife Sarah, 35; and children Joseph, 13, Louisa, 9, Rachel, 8, Sherrod, 7, and Sherman, 4.

In the 1880 census of Tarboro township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: Louisa Staton, 21, farm laborer; Daniel Pitman, 10; [Louisa’s] son Willie Staton, 1; and John Carson, 21, farm laborer.

On 5 March 1882, Clem Hagans, 21, son of Hilliard and Mariah Hagans, married Louisa Staton, 23, daughter of Willis and Sarah Staton, in Pitt County, N.C.

In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Lue Hagans, 48, widow, farm laborer; daughter Sarah, 23; [grandchildren?] Geneva, 6, Mahaley, 4, Mildred, 2, and “no name,” 4 months; and granddaughter Ida Banes, 17.

Louisa Hagans died 17 July 1930 in Wilson, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was 70 years old; was born in Edgecombe County to Willis and Sarah Staton; was a widow; worked in farming; and was buried in Wilson [probably, Vick Cemetery.]

Sarah Powell died 27 June 1939 in Wilson, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was 43 years old; was born in Edgecombe County to Clem Hagans and Louisa Staton; lived at 114 South East Street, Wilson; was the widow of Henry Powell; and was buried in Wilson [probably, Vick Cemetery.] Mahalie Stokes, Winston-Salem, N.C., was informant.

  • Clem Hagans

In the 1870 census of Tarboro township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: Hilliard Haigins, 43; wife Maria, 35; children Mahela and Clarence, 13, and Clem, 8; and Daniel Hagans, 26, farm laborer.

In the 1880 census of Tarboro township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: farmer Hilliard Hagans, 53; wife Maria, 50; daughter Mahala, 24, son Clem, 17; nephew Daniel, 35; and granddaughters Martha, 6, and Martha, 4. [Next door: Louisa Staton, 21, farm laborer; Daniel Pitman, 10; [Louisa’s] son Willie Staton, 1; and John Carson, 21, farm laborer.]

On 5 March 1882, Clem Hagans, 21, son of Hilliard and Mariah Hagans, married Louisa Staton, 23, daughter of Willis and Sarah Staton, in Pitt County, N.C.

  • Mariah Hagans

In the 1870 census of Tarboro township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: Hilliard Haigins, 43; wife Maria, 35; children Mahela and Clarence, 13, and Clem, 8; and Daniel Hagans, 26, farm laborer.

In the 1880 census of Tarboro township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: farmer Hilliard Hagans, 53; wife Maria, 50; daughter Mahala, 24, son Clem, 17; nephew Daniel, 35; and granddaughters Martha, 6, and Martha, 4. [Next door: Louisa Staton, 21, farm laborer; Daniel Pitman, 10; [Louisa’s] son Willie Staton, 1; and John Carson, 21, farm laborer.]

  • Moses Vines

On 12 May 1886, Moses Vines 23, of Wilson County, married Mahala Hagans, 25, of Wilson County, in Wilson.

Chattel Mortgages 1858-1889, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh.

Hinnant vs. Wilmington & Weldon Railroad Company.

A search for documents related to Daniel Vick turned up this scrap of paper in William Hinnant‘s estate file.  It’s difficult to interpret without better context clues, but it appears that Offie Battle signed over to Daniel Vick his “witness ticket” — and the fee that came with it — perhaps to pay off or pay down on a debt Battle owed Vick. More interestingly, the file also contained a summary of the testimony in the trial of Amy Hinnant, Administrator for William Hinnant, deceased, vs. Wilmington & Weldon Rail Road Company.

In May 1890, William Hinnant had been fatally injured while attempting to cross the railroad between Nash and Barnes Streets. A train engineer had, Hinnant’s widow alleged in her complaint, negligently allowed an “inexperienced, careless, and incompetent subordinate” to move an engine in a crowded, busy section of track, striking her husband.

The trial unfolded in February 1893. Amy Hinnant testified:

  • She was the wife of William Hinnant.
  • He came home for dinner [what we now call lunch] injured; Rufus Taylor was helping him walk. This was on a Monday.
  • She examined him and found his collarbone and two ribs broken on his left side.
  • He died at 10:30 on Wednesday of the same week.
  • They had been married 19 years and had no children.
  • Her husband was a good provider.
  • He was always healthy except for an occasional cold or backache.
  • They lived in a house he bought. [The house had a mortgage and since been foreclosed on due to her financial state. This testimony was struck.]
  • Her husband was 32 or 33 years old.

R.T. Stevens testified:

  • He assisted the physician in dressing Hinnant’s wounds.
  • His collarbone and two or three ribs were broken on the left side.
  • Hinnant had worked for him for 11 years before he died.
  • Hinnant drove a team for Wootten & Stevens furniture dealers and undertakers, as well as their hearse.
  • When he wasn’t driving, Hinnant worked around the shop packing and unpacking furniture, “dressing bed slats and such.”
  • The team was used for delivering furniture and hauling furniture from the depot.
  • “It required a careful sober hand to do the kind of work he was engaged in. We regarded him as a good careful sober hand.”
  • For three or four years, Hinnant had been paid $4.50 per week. He boarded and clothed himself out of his wages.
  • He guessed Hinnant was about 35 years old.

W.P. Wootten testified:

  • He was a member of the firm Wootten & Stevens (W&S).
  • Hinnant had worked for them for 11 years. He delivered furniture.
  • “His character was good and he was one of the most careful hands I ever knew. He was sober and attentive to business.”
  • Hinnant was never absent except for sickness, and he was not out as much as five days a year.
  • Hinnant’s health was good.
  • Wootten’s business was on the north side of Nash Street and west side of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.
  • Hinnant’s house was on the north side of Nash Street and east of the railroad.
  • W&S’ stables were on the south side of Barnes Street, which runs one block west and parallel to Nash.
  • Employees in W&S’ workshops “work by Hackney Bros’ bell” and are allowed 45 minutes for dinner. The bell rings at 12 o’clock.
  • “On the day of the accident, Hinnant carried the horses from the shop to the stable at the ringing of the bell, and put them up and fed them for dinner.”
  • Hinnant had to cross the railroad to get to his home from the stables, a distance of about three-eighths of a mile. The stables were about 300 yards from the shop.
  • Hinnant was about 35 to 40 years old.

Tom Keezer [Keyser] testified:

  • He was hauling corn from a car on the spur track, nearly opposite of where Hinnant was injured.
  • Hinnant was injured on a side track.
  • Keyzer did not witness it, but saw Hinnant immediately after when he was pulled from between the cars.
  • “A colored man by the name of Willis Pearson was switching with an engine on the side track. He was a fireman. He was running back hard against the bumpers trying to make the cars couple.”
  • Stephen Meredith was the engineer of the freight train engine. He was sitting in front of a grocery store about 20 to 30 yards from the railroad crossing when the accident happened.
  • The place where Hinnant was crossing was a regular railroad crossing and was the most direct route home for Hinnant.
  • The engine was north of the crossing.
  • Hinnant was crossing by a footpath generally used by people crossing from the north to the south side of the railroad. Leeper uses the crossing; there is no street there.
  • Keyzer did not think Pearson was ringing the bell or giving any signal.
  • After unloading corn, he crossed Barnes Street to Pettigrew Street, then to Nash Street and was crossing the railroad on Nash when the accident happened.
  • The engine was making more noise than usual.
  • Hinnant crossed between Barnes and Nash Streets, about fifty feet from Nash Street.

Orphy [Theophilus] Battle testified:

  • He was near where Hinnant was injured. He saw him going from Barnes Street across the railroad toward Nash Street on a walking path.
  • The cars were standing still, thirty to forty feet apart, when Hinnant started to cross.
  • No bell was ringing, and no whistle blowing.
  • Willis Pearson, a fireman, was shifting the cars, while engineer Meredith stood under a tree near a grocery store about sixty to seventy feet away. “The cars came back hard.”
  • William Hinnant was a sober, industrious man.
  • Nash Street is “tolerably thickly settled” and many people use the crossing.
  • Battle was sitting in a chair in front of a barber shop looking at the train switching.
  • The engine was making a lot of noise.
  • Battle’s view was obstructed when Hinnant was struck.
  • Hinnant was neither blind nor deaf.
  • Hinnant could have crossed at Barnes Street, but it would not have been as convenient.
  • Battle had been brought before the mayor several times for drunkenness, but nothing else. He drank sometimes, but was sober at the time.

The defendant declined to present evidence.

The court determined that defendant Railroad Company was not negligent; that Hinnant was guilty of contributory negligence; and that the Railroad Company could not have avoided the accident.

After securing a waiver of required security payment, Amy Hinnant appealed.

——

  • Amy Hinnant
  • William Hinnant
  • Tom Keyzer
  • Willis Pearson
  • Theophilus Battle — in the 1880 census of Town of Wilson, Wilson County: Mary Battle, 55, and sons Theophilus, 26, blacksmith, and Blount, 16.

Probate Estate Case Files, Wilson County, North Carolina 1854-1959, http://www.familysearch.org

Harry Barnes vs. Charity Robbins.

In May 1907, a Superior Court clerk issued a summons to Charity Robbins to appear in court to answer a complaint filed by Harry Barnes. Barnes was contesting ownership of a lot on the north side of Pine Street, adjoining lots owned by Pennie Bynum, Miley Barnes, and S.H. Vick.

Barnes requested and was granted permission to file his suit as a pauper, asserting that he was unable to pay costs associated with pursuing his case. I could not determine the outcome of this litigation.

Rich testifies: “The trains never blow at this crossing.”

W.H. Raper was struck and killed by a night train near Lucama on 20 March 1897. The plaintiff in Martin Raper, Adm’r W.H. Raper, deceased, vs. The Wilmington and Weldon Railroad argued that the railroad company’s negligent upkeep of the guard rail at the railroad crossing caused or contributed to Raper’s death. Much of the testimony detailed the severe mutilation of Raper’s body, but Isaac Rich testified more generally about the frequency of night trains.

A white witness vouched for Rich’s good character:

Another witness, John H. Hill, testified that he had walked with Raper that night: “I went past the colored church and section house and there told him goodbye and told him to go home by county road.”

Raper’s estate lost at trial and again on appeal.

Wilson [County, North Carolina] Estate Case Files 1854-1959, http://www.familysearch.org.

$10,000 judgment in wrongful death suit.

Though acquitted in a manslaughter trial arising from the death of William Cooper, M.O. Tripp was found liable in a civil suit and ordered by a Wilson County court to pay Cooper’s widow Lilly Cooper $10,000 (roughly $129,000 in 2024 dollars).

Wilson Daily Times, 8 February 1949.

Coley v. Artis, pt. 5: Maybe he might redeem it.

The fifth in a series excerpting testimony from the transcript of the trial in J.F. Coley v. Tom Artis, Wayne County Superior Court, November 1908. The dispute centered on 30 acres of land. Thomas “Tom Pig” Artis began renting the property in 1881 from William J. Exum, a wealthy white farmer. In 1892, Exum’s widow Mary sold the land to Napoleon Hagans. Hagans died in 1896, and the land passed to his sons Henry and William S. Hagans. In 1899, Henry sold his interest to his brother William, who sold the 30 acres in 1908 to J. Frank Coley, a young white farmer. Tom Artis laid claim to the property, arguing that Napoleon Hagans had sold it to him. Coley filed suit and, after hearing the testimony of more than a dozen witnesses, the court decided in his favor. (Paragraph breaks and some punctuation have been inserted for better readability.)

Defendant introduces T.F. Jones, who being duly sworn, testifies:

I had a conversation with Napoleon Hagans about this land, the 30 acre piece. (Plaintiff objects to question and answer.) I got after Uncle ‘Pole to see me the land. I told him if he would give me a deed for both places, the Calv Pig, that is the 24 acre piece, and the Tom Pig place, the 30 acre piece, I would take them. He told me he would sell me the Calv Pig place, but the Tom Pig place he had promised to let Tom stay on that as long as he lived, that maybe he might redeem it. That about ended the conversation with us. I bought some timber off this land from Tom. Off of the 30 acre piece. I suppose Hagans knew about it. (Plaintiff objects.) I couldn’t say that Hagans saw me hauling the timber, I guess he saw me. (Plaintiff objects.) Hagans never made any objection. I had a conversation with Tom about this land along during that time, when Uncle ‘Pole Hagans first got rid of that Calv Pig place, about 15 years ago. I asked him if he wouldn’t sell his part, and what would he ask for it, (Plaintiff objects). He said he didn’t want to sell it, he expected to redeem it sometime. Last Fall I told him if he expected to get that mortgage he had better attend to it. He said he had boys in Norfolk, who would take it up; that he had confidence in Will Hagans. That if his boys let it slip out after he died, they could. (Plaintiff objects.)

CROSS EXAMINED.

Mr. W.J. Exum died about 1885. Tom is known as Pig. I don’t know why he was called Pig. I think they got “Pig” from “Diggs”. Some of his people ‘way back there, were named “Diggs”, and they got to calling it “Pig” for short. I remember when Napoleon Hagans died. I was down the Country. I left here in ’94, and came back in 1900. He died during that time. I got this timber 20 years ago. I was buying all I could, I don’t know how much I got. I got it by the tree. I went in 1881 and milled ’till 1890. Either ’81 or ’82. I bought the timber about that time. I didn’t know that the deed from Mrs. Exum to Hagans was executed before 1892.

——

Jones’ guess about the origins of Tom Artis’ nickname is unsatisfying. “Pig” from “Diggs”? In fact, Thomas and Calvin Artis took their nickname from their father, an enslaved man, who was called “Simon Pig.” Artis was the surname of their mother Celia, a free woman of color. (Tom Artis was not a Diggs, but his niece Frances Artis married Wilson (or William) Diggs in 1868 in Wayne County.) I have found no other record of manumission, but Simon Pig Artis is listed as the head of his household in the 1860 census of Davis township, Wayne County. He reported (or was attributed with) $800 of real property and $430 of personal property. The land was almost surely his wife Celia’s; she is one of the earliest free colored property owners appearing in Wayne County deed books.

1860 census, Davis district, Wayne County, North Carolina.

Several Diggs descendants settled in or owned property in Wilson County; see here and here and here.

 

Coley v. Artis, pt. 4: I stated the fact.

The fourth in a series excerpting testimony from the transcript of the trial in J.F. Coley v. Tom Artis, Wayne County Superior Court, November 1908. The dispute centered on 30 acres of land. Thomas “Tom Pig” Artis began renting the property in 1881 from William J. Exum, a wealthy white farmer. In 1892, Exum’s widow Mary sold the land to Napoleon Hagans. Hagans died in 1896, and the land passed to his sons Henry and William S. Hagans. In 1899, Henry sold his interest to his brother William, who sold the 30 acres in 1908 to J. Frank Coley, a young white farmer. Tom Artis laid claim to the property, arguing that Napoleon Hagans had sold it to him. Coley filed suit and, after hearing the testimony of more than a dozen witnesses, the court decided in his favor. (Paragraph breaks and some punctuation have been inserted for better readability.)

Plaintiff introduces John Rountree who being duly sworn, testifies as follows:

I know Tom Artis. I heard him say that the cotton was for rents. I heard that for the last 14 years. I collected the rent for W.S. Hagans for several years. I heard Tom allude to it as rents. I heard last September after the land was sold, that it was interest. I never heard anything but rents to that time. I had a conversation with Tom, and carried a message to Hagans for Tom. This last Fall Tom came over to the gin house where I was ginning, and said to me that he understood that Hagans was going to sell the 30 acres piece of land, and said to me to tell Hagans if he pleased not to sell till he gave him notice, because he wanted to buy it. I delivered that message to Hagans. Hagans said alright he would sell it to him as soon as anybody, but he didn’t want to sell one piece at the time. We didn’t talk about the sale to Coley.

CROSS EXAMINED.

I have lived at W.S. Hagans’ for about 18 years. I farm at Hagans’. I rent land. I pay him 1/3. I collected Tom’s rent along in the Fall. Hagans has asked me to go to Tom and ask him to send his rents. Uncle Tom sometime would bring the rent and Hagans wasn’t there, and he would give it to me to keep for Hagans. Tom called it rent when Pole Hagans was living. (Plaintiff objects.) I wasn’t there when he sent it to W.J. Exum. While Mr. Exum was living, I didn’t see Tom taking his cotton there. I didn’t tell Hagans that I would swear the old man always called it rent. I had no right to, I didn’t tell the lawyers I would swear to that. I stated the fact that he always called it rent. I told Tom that Hagans had sent me for the rent two or three times. I knew it was rent. I told Hagans that I had his rent from Tom. I told Coley that the old man called it rent last summer. They had me subpoenad before then. I told him Tom always called it rent. I told Mr. Coley’s lawyers that last summer. I never told Hagans, he knew it.

This would have been a wearyingly familiar vista to John Rountree, Tom Artis, William Hagans, and the other farmers involved in this litigation.

——

John Rountree, born about 1859, was the son of Fannie Rountree and lived in Nahunta township, Wayne County, all his life. However, by 1880 his widowed sister Rhoda Daniel Harris and her sons Benjamin, Edwin [Edward], and Carroll Harris had moved ten miles or so into Wilson, where she found employment as a cook for the family of Willie [Wiley] and Eliza Rountree Daniel. Eliza Daniel was a daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth Daniel Rountree, and John Rountree and Rhoda Daniel Harris may have been linked to her family during slavery. John Rountree’s great-nephew, brickmason Benjamin A. Harris, son of Edward Harris, is featured here and here and here.

A suit for seduction.

The Indianapolis Journal, 28 January 1896.

A suit alleging seduction claimed a tort action under the law. Here, Nathan Blackwell, acting in the place of deceased Edwin Blackwell, filed to recover damages for the seduction by Walter Kersey of his niece (or cousin?) Mary Ella Blackwell, a minor. (I do not know if their “relationship” was consensual or forced, but it likely resulted in a pregnancy.) Kersey, like the Blackwells, was a migrant to Indianapolis from Wilson County and was about twenty years Mary Ella’s senior.

A year later, Mary Ella married a man three times her age.  On 27 January 1897, Mary Ella Blackwell, 17, born in North Carolina to Edwin and H. Blackwell, married Thomas Parsons, 50, born in North Carolina to Jefferson Parsons and Zilphia Burns, in Indianapolis.

But the relationship did not last: in the 1910 census of Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana: Hattie Blackwell, 43, widowed laundress, and children Mary, 29, divorced laundress, and John, 23, coal yards worker, single. All were born in North Carolina. 

Darden v. Robert G. Lassiter & Co., 198 N.C. 427, 152 S.E. 32 (1930).

Wilson Daily Times, 31 October 1929.

Darden v. Robert G. Lassiter & Company reached the North Carolina Supreme Court on appeal from Wilson County Superior Court. Camillus L. Darden, administrator of the estate of Evan Powell, filed the action against Robert G. Lassiter & Company to recover damages for Powell’s death of plaintiff’s death, which was alleged to have been caused by the wrongful act, neglect, or default of the defendant. The county court entered a judgment for plaintiff, and Lassiter & Company appealed.

The evidence showed that on December 29, 1927, Powell was working for Lassiter in a trench or ditch cut along Mercer Street in the town of Wilson in preparation for laying sewer or water mains. The trench was cut by a ditching machine to approximately the required depth, and Powell was engaged in smoothing out the bottom of the trench to a uniform grade, called “fine grading,” when the trench caved in and injured him, along with two other workmen. Powell died the following day.

Powell, “a colored man about 29 years of age,” had been employer by Lassiter as a day laborer for about five months and working with this particular crew for about two months prior to his injury. The trench was approximately 7 feet deep and about 21 inches wide. The ground was saturated with water from heavy rainfall.  Water seeped in from the walls on both sides of the trench, and there had been a couple of cave-ins prior to this one. About fifteen yards from the most recent cave-in, workers encountered quicksand about 6 feet below the surface of the ground. Lassiter installed a pump to keep the water out of the trench.

Lassiter’s foreman, O.L. Pickering, directed that certain bracing be used to keep the walls of the trench from falling in — two upright pieces of timber, placed from 8 to 16 feet apart along the sides of the ditch, with two horizontal braces placed between them, one at the top and the other at the bottom. However, contrary to custom, Pickering provided no longitudinal stringers to keep the banks of the ditch from falling or caving in.

On the day of the incident, Pickering went to lunch about 12:30 and left the others working in the ditch. There were no braces for a space of 18 or 20 feet (one witness said from 35 to 40 feet) immediately behind the ditching machine where Powell was working. Shortly after the foreman left, the bank of the ditch suddenly caved in just beyond the last brace and temporarily buried three of the workmen.

Foreman Pickering testified, in part: “It was my duty to see that these braces were put in. I instructed them to put the braces in at intervals of 8 feet. There was a space behind the machine of about 12 or 15 feet in which there were no braces. They had put in all the braces I had instructed them to put in except the last one. They did not have it in when I left. I left them to put that in — the one right behind the machine — and to lay the pipe. Evan Powell was in the ditch at the time I left. He was leveling the bottom or doing fine grading.”

Lassiter offered evidence that Powell had a duty to help put in braces and assumed the risk of his injury. However, this was countered by evidence showing that Powell had no such responsibility. Other employees were instructed to place the braces in the ditch under the immediate supervision of the foreman, who, in turn, was under the supervision of an engineer employed by Lassiter.

The usual issues of negligence, contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and damages were submitted to the jury, resulting in a verdict for the plaintiff. The defendant appealed.

Chief Justice Stacy wrote the opinion. “The case, with evidence sufficient to carry it to the jury, was tried upon the theory that in law the defendant was in duty bound, in the exercise of ordinary care, to provide a reasonably safe place for [Powell] to work, and to furnish him reasonably safe means and suitable appliances with which to execute the work assigned, subject to the limitation that the deceased took upon himself, as an employee or servant of the defendant, the ordinary risks of danger incident to the employment, which were obvious or could have been perceived by him in the exercise of his senses and by the use of ordinary care and circumspection. In this, there was no error. …

“Whether ‘fine grading’ in the bottom of a trench, such as [Powell] was doing in the instant case, is dangerous, or otherwise, would seem to depend upon a variety of circumstances. In some cases, it might be entirely safe; in others, not. The size and dimensions of the trench might affect it. The character of the soil would certainly have some influence. The presence of lime, stone, or quicksand, or of earth newly filled in, the moisture in the ground, and numerous other conditions might render such work more or less safe, or more or less hazardous. The state of the weather or the season of the year might have something to do with it. But all of these are matters of fact, about which there may be conflicting evidence, as in the instant case, calling for determination by a jury.

“Indeed, in the instant case, the fact that [Powell]’s work was done under the immediate supervision and direction of the defendant’s foreman would seem to be equivalent to an assurance that he might safely proceed with it. … When the foreman went to get his lunch, he left [Powell] at work in the trench, leveling the bottom or doing fine grading. He was therefore, at the time of leaving, in a better position than [Powell] to observe and appreciate the danger.

“The case was properly submitted to the jury.

“No error.”

Evan Powell’s death certificate. Cause: “Paralysis. Crushed by falling dirt while digging a ditch in town of Wilson; fractured vertebrae.” Powell was a native of Whiteville, Columbus County, in southeast North Carolina.

Isaac Isler fights back.

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Wilson Daily Times, 24 April 1939.

In November 1938, Isaac Isler filed suit in county court against three police officers for false arrest and  injuries sustained during a beating in his home. As set forth in the Daily Times on the 12th, Isler’s suit alleged that the officers had entered unannounced and, when he asked for their warrant, began pistol-whipping and beating him with the black jacks, seriously injuring his eye.

On 26 April 1939, the Daily Times detailed the testimony at trial. Dr. T.N. Blackshear testified that Isaac Isler’s eye trouble was caused by red pepper concealed in a handkerchief that Isler rubbed in his eye during his examination. Jailer S.G. Gunter testified that on 3 June 1938, when Isler was jailed, he had not complained of injury, and Gunter had seen no blood on him. Detective Philemon Ray Hartis swore that he had entered the house in search of boys wanted for attacking another Negro. “I fell on the ground and I saw Isler’s wife coming toward me with an iron poker, and his son with a lawn mower handle. And I took out my black jack and lightly tapped him over the head so I could get up.” Chief of Police Clyde Preston Hocutt testified that he had taken the poker from Isler’s wife, and the boy with the lawn mower handle had thrown it down and run away. He denied touching Hocutt. When Isler took the stand, he testified that the three officers had come to his house “looking for some boys or my sons.” He said he was not sure which man had beaten him and only recognized them by their voices. Isler was totally blind “except for a little shade of light.” He had lost the vision of his right eye in World War I and most in his left eye since the beating. Isler’s wife Vivie Isler testified that the police were looking for boys who allegedly beat a man and stole his mule, and Officer L.C. Cooper had beaten her husband with the butt of his gun and Hocutt, with his fist. Isler’s son R.D. Isler, who was one of the boys sought, testified similarly to his parents. Dr. Joe Carr testified that he did not recall treating Isler for head wounds, but hospital records show he was treated for head lacerations.

I have not found a report of the outcome of the trial, but I am fairly confident that the judgment was against Isler.

Here is how Karl Fleming described early-1950s Ray Hartis in Son of the Rough South:

” … [Chief Privette’s] knowledge pretty much ended at the edge of “n*ggertown,” into which he rarely ventured. The job of following what was happening across the tracts fell mainly to Detective Ray Hartis. He was a concrete block of a man, five feet, eleven inches and 200 pounds, with a large head covered with bristly graying hair. He had thick eyebrows, cold gray eyes, red cheeks, and a large pickle of a nose lined with tiny red tributaries — marks of the hard drinker that he was. He was about forty, married but childless, a longtime cop who carried a .38 Smith and Wesson pistol on his hip, and a blackjack in his rear right pocket. …

“He was a loner with the harsh and unapproachable manner of a bitter and disappointed man, disdainful of and not well liked by his fellow cops.

” … we’d cruise back through town and across the Atlantic Coast Line tracks into the little colored business district, only two blocks long. Ray would slow the car down to a crawl, and as we went along, silence would fall over the little knots of black men laughing and talking on the street.

“One sultry night as we cruised the alleys, Ray suddenly stopped the car in front of a shotgun shack and got out.

” ‘Where you going, Ray?’ I asked.

” ‘I heard this son-of-a-bitch is a member of the N-Double-Fuckin’-A-C-P,’ he said. … Suddenly a gray-haired old black man appeared out of the back room rubbing his eyes and pulling on a pair of overalls over his bare shoulders.

” ‘Whatcha doin’, Mistuh Hottis? You got a search warrant?’ he said.

“Ray turned, his face all red, lunged at the black man and slapped him hard across the cheek. Down the old man went on his back to the floor, and Ray said, ‘That’s one side of my goddamned search warrant. You wanna see the other one?'”

——

In 1917, Isaac Isler Jr. registered for the World War I draft in Lenoir County, North Carolina. Per his registration card, he was born 11 April 1890 in Georgia; lived in LaGrange, N.C.; farmed for A.T. Rouse of LaGrange; and was single.

On 19 December 1918, Isaac Isler, 28, of Lenoir, son of Isaac and Laura Isler, married Tildy Ann Exum, 18, of Lenoir, in Moseley Hall, Lenoir County, North Carolina.

In the 1920 census of Moseley Hall township, Lenoir County, North Carolina: farmer Isaac Isler, 30, and wife Matilda, 17.

Rufus Isler, aged 20 days, died 11 June 1931 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born in Wilson County to Isaac Isler of Atlanta, Georgia, and Matilda Exum of Wayne County, N.C., and resided at 803 Evans Street, Wilson.

On 11 February 1934, Isaac Isler, 42, son of Isaac Isler and Mollie [unknown], married Hellen Richardson, 28, daughter of Eddie James and Mary J. Abraham, in Wilson. Rev. C.B. Ham, “an ordane minister of the United Holey Church,” performed the ceremony in the presence of Joe James, Mary Abraham, and Jannie James.

Matilda Isler died 2 June 1936. Per her death certificate, she was 24 years old; was married to Isaac Isler; was born in Wayne County, N.C., to Henry Exum of Greene County, N.C., and Harriett Best of Wayne County; was engaged in farming; and was buried in a family cemetery in LaGrange, N.C. Her cause of death? “Probably puerperal sepsis. Saw her once with midwife — She was dying at that time — Baby 10 days old.”

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 510 Hadley Street, Isaac Isley, 46; wife Vivien, 29; and children Charlie, 20, Aron, 19, R.D., 16, Richard, 15, Moses, 10, and Herbert, 9. Isaac had no occupation listed.

On 25 November 1941, Charlie Cleveland Isler, 21, born in Lenoir County, N.C., to Iasiat Isler and Matilda Exon, residing in Norfolk, Virginia, married Naomi Ruth Sutton, 20, of Bertie County, in Norfolk.

In 1942, Aaron Isler registered for the World War II draft in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was born 28 August 1921 in Wayne County; resided at 510 New Bern Street, Wilson; his contact was Isaac Isler of the same address; and he worked for N.M. Schaum, Acme Candy Company, 904 West Nash Street.

In 1942, Robert Isler registered for the World War II draft in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was born 26 December 1924 in LaGrange, N.C.; resided at 510 New Bern Street, Wilson; his contact was Isaac Isler of the same address; and he was a student at Darden High School.

In 1942, Richard J. Isler registered for the World War II draft in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was born 5 May 1925 in Wilson County.; resided at 510 New Bern Street, Wilson; his contact was Isaac Isler of the same address; and he was unemployed.

Isaac Isler died 19 February 1968 and was buried in Wilson’s Rest Haven cemetery.

Photo courtesy of Findagrave.com.