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New York Morning Herald 24 Oct., 1839
Superior Court
Before Chief Justice Jones and Judge Oakley.
WEDNESDAY Oct. 25. -- In the case of Ruiz and Montez, arrested at the suit of the African negroes.--Mr. Purroy appeared, agreeable to notice, to move for the discharge of the above defendants out of the custody of the sheriff, on giving common bail. The learned gentleman read several lengthy affidavits from the defendants and others, from which we gathered the following particulars:--
Jose Ruiz, at present of the city of New York, being duly sworn, says that he was
arrested on the 17th day of October by a capias etcetra on a suit of assault
and false imprisonment brought by one Fulah. That this deponent further says,
that he was taken to and confined in jail in this city, where he now is; and further,
that the person above named is styled or named Fulah. The plaintiff in this cause,
who is a negro, is the property of this deponent who is a resident of Puerto Principe,
in the Island of Cuba, and a subject, by birth, of the Queen of Spain. That this
deponent publicly and lawfully purchased the said plaintiff in Havana, in the said
Island of Cuba, on or about the 25th day of June, 1839. That slavery is now, and
always has been, tolerated and allowed by law, and that slavery is recognized and
protected by law. That at the time of the purchase the deponent did not know the
plaintiff was an African by birth, and now does not know it. That he purchased him
in the same manner in which all other slaves are purchased in Havana, and thus legally
acquired property in him. And this deponent says, that at the time when he purchased
the plaintiff, deponent purchased also, in the like manner, several other negroes,
in all to the number 49. That after the purchase deponent went before the Governor
of Cuba, and exhorted to him sufficient proofs of the legality of the purchase of
the 49 negroes, and the Governor granted him a written licence to take them on board
the schooner, and to transport them to Puerto Principe.
And this deponent swears that he has never been engaged in the trade of importing
negroes, and further, that it is untrue that the negroes were taken on board by night,
and that they were all embarked on the 17th of June, in the presence of many persons,
and among the ships in port were several English and American vessels of war--that
the negroes all went on board willingly, and required no force or violence to induce
them to go on board the schooner--that the negroes were not in irons; that they were
never tied on board, but perfectly loose, and went about the deck as they pleased.
That there were no irons or fetters on board. That it is not true that they were
kept on an insufficient allowance of food neither before nor after the mutiny and
the murder of the whites by the negroes. That in the stores of said schooner and
in the cargo were the following, among other articles of provisions, viz: --50lbs
of ground coffee; 500lbs of sugar; 6 cwt. of rice; 2 bags of beans; 10 barrels of
biscuit; 3 dozen of fowls; 250lbs of jerked beef; 1 barrel of sausages; 480 bunches
of bananas; 2 barrels of sweet potatoes; fresh beef for 2 days; 14 demygons of wine;
6 casks of water; 220 boxes of vermicellie, 25 bags of beans; 2500 lbs of jerked
beef ; 25 boxes of raisins, besides olive oil and other eatibles. That for nearly
60 days the said schooner was under the control of the negroes, and subject to their
will and caprice. That after the revolt a negro, named Jose, but who now styles himself
Sinquah, assumed command, and frequently whipped the other negroes for disobeying
his commands, and that deponent and Montez frequently interposed to prevent said
punishment. And that before the mutiny water was never refused to the negroes. That
it is entirely false that clothes were ever washed in fresh water; and also untrue
that the negroes were ever whipped by the orders of this deponent, or rum and powder
ever rubbed into the wounds. That this deponent never whipped or struck the negroes,
nor saw the captain or crew of said schooner strike the negroes; and that, if it
was done, it was without the privity or knowledge of said deponent.
And this deponent says, that on the third day after their departure from Havana,
the forty nine negroes suddenly rose on the crew and passengers, arming themselves
with cane knives two and a half feet long by two and a half inches wide, and murderedthe
cook and captain, throwing the bodies overboard. That the two sailors contrived to
escape, thus leaving only two white men on board, to wit: this deponent and the said
Pedro Montez, who is an old gentleman sixty years of age. That from the time of said
murder, deponent and Montez were completely in the power of the forty nine negroes,
until captured by the brig Washington, and that at first the negroes refused to give
this deponent and Montez any meat or drink. That plaintiff and the other negroes
several times attempted to kill Montez, who had, on one occasion, to fall on his
knees and kiss the feet of the ring leader before he would spare his life.
That deponent cannot account for the apparent falsehoods contained in said affidavit
made by plaintiff and a negro called Kimbo, to hold deponent to bail in this cause,
than from the very imperfect manner in which such affidavits have been procured.
That this deponent believes this suit has been instituded [sic] without the knowledge
of the plaintiff who is very ignorant, and that this deponent believes it to have
been instituted at the solicitation and instigation of a certain individual known
as Lewis Tappan, who took to the Sheriff’s office the Capias or writ on which the
deponent and the said Pedro Montez were arrested, and that Tappan afterward accompanied
the officer who arrested this deponent and Montez, and went up into the bedroom of
the latter. That this deponent believes that this action is altogether vexatious,
and calculated merely to harass this deponent, with the intention on the part of
said Tappan, and his confederates, to force and frighten the said deponent, and the
said Montez, into abandoning their claim for their property, now ligating before
the United States Court of Connecticut, and preventing them from producing certain
proofs in support thereof, by the 3d Tuesday of November.
One affidavit was also read from Pedro Montez, confirmatory of the foregoing, which
had been sworn to by Jose Ruiz. Also one from Josiah Kreene, the Deputy Sheriff,
giving the same account of the conduct of Lewis Tappan on the occasion of the arrest,
as was published in the Herald the day after the imprisonment of Messrs. Ruiz and
Montez.
Mr. Purroy then addressed the court at considerable length, in support of his client’s
right to their liberties, and commented on the unparalleled fact that two white men
could be held in bondage at the suit of a number of pirates and murderers, not one
of whom understood the nature of an oath, or could speak the English language. In
adverting to that part of Sinquah’s affidavit, which states that he is a native of
Africa, Mr. Purroy said that there were large villages of negroes in Havana who speak
their own language the same as the native American citizens who were born in Pennsylvania,
yet speak German, and others in Dutchess county rarely speak any language but the
low Dutch.
Mr. Sedgwick put in affidavits from Lewis Tappan and Joshua Leavitt who swore that
they had visited these plaintiffs in prison, and believed them to be native born
Africans. The learned gentlemen also offered to read from a book which he got from
the office of the British Consul, some portions of the law of Spain. This was objected
to by the other side, and the book was permitted to be read de bene esse. All
that came from this reading was, that in conformity with a treaty entered into between
Spain and England, the King of Spain, in December, 1817, issued a decree prohibiting
all subjects of Spain from resorting to the coasts of Africa for slaves after the
30th of May, 1820, and further providing that in case any slaves were brought from
Africa after the prohibited period, the negroes were to be set free in the first
port of Spanish dominions, at which the vessel might arrive; the vessel should be
confiscated and the master submit to be imprisoned for ten years. He also read from
the same book a decree directing the exportation of some of the free negroes of Havana
to Europe because their residing at that place was highly inconvenient to the European
residents.
Mr. Staples followed on the side of the negroes.
Mr. Purroy replied briefly, and contended that were it even in evidence that the
negroes were Africans, Ruiz cannot be sued in an action in the form ex delicto unless
it be proved or alleged that he knew them to be Africans when he purchased
them; the animus must be proved; if he purchased them bona fide they
cannot bring an action of false imprisonment, upon the ground that the negroes could
not be sold in Havana as slaves. Ruiz swears that he bought the negroes publicly
and under the condition of the Spanish laws. He may not have property in them, but
he cannot be prosecuted for a tort. If this be allowed, any gentleman coming from
the South, or any of the West Indies, may be prosecuted and imprisoned for having
purchased an African under a mistake in a country where slavery is allowed.
The Chief Justice said he would take the papers, look into the case, and give his
opinion in a day or two.
