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New York Morning Herald, September 5, 1839
The Negroes Lately Captured - The fate of these unfortunate wretches is beginning
to excite a great deal of attention throughout the country.--One of them named Faquorna
is dead; he assisted in killing the captain. They are still in confinement at New
haven, and so great is the anxiety to see them, that they are shown at a shilling
a head for each visitor; already $500 have been taken; and last Sunday there were
2000 persons who went to the prison to see them. From New York, Vermont, Massachusetts,
Philadelphia, and all parts of Connecticut, persons have gone to see them. Although
it is proposed to try them at Hartford, it is very evident that they must be tried
here. They were taken on the waters of Suffolk County, Long Island, and this brings
them within the jurisdiction of the southern district court of the State of New York,
and before this court they must be tried, if tried at all. But the Spanish government
may demand them as runaway slaves, the property of Spanish subjects, and recognised
as such at Havana. If there is a positive clause in our treaty with Spain, relative
to the surrender of runaway slaves, they must be delivered up; if not, they will
not be delivered up.--And it is difficult to imagine for what offence [sic] they
are to be tried by this government or its agents. Nevertheless, Choate of Boston,
Baldwin of New Haven, and Staples of this city are employed as counsel for them.
And if they are not delivered up to Ruiz and Montez, as part of their “goods and
chattels” and so taken to Havana, they will assuredly be sent back to the coast of
Africa.
