David, Recently, David Payne posted a 1924 letter to the editor that had been published by the Atlanta Constitution. It contained the story of "the first slave in Illinois." Based on the family members involved, he thinks the story takes place in Gallatin County. The story is interesting. It's typical of the racist drivel even northern newspapers were sprouting in the 1920s, but that was during the highpoint of a newly energized Ku Klux Klan. A few years earlier President Wilson re-segregated the federal workforce six decades after Lincoln had desegregated it. In the early 1920s, the KKK even inducted President Harding into the organization at a White House ceremony. Obviously, the Klan didn't have as bad a reputation as it does now. I bring this up only to note that the newspaper article is offensive and is demeaning in its portrayal of Sarah, the slave. That said, it does contain a germ of an interesting story. Obviously Sarah was not the first slave brought into Illinois. There were many before and quite a few after her arrival into the state in 1848. I don't live in Gallatin County and haven't had a chance to check the courthouse, but something like the story could have very easily happened. At that point, Illinois law allowed the immigration of slaves or free blacks into the state only if the master or former master paid a $1,000 bond to the county. In March of 1848, voters approved Illinois' second constitution which called for the legislature to completely ban the emigration by blacks, free or slave, into Illinois. A few years later John A. Logan wrote such a law that passed the General Assembly. Although Haley's action of bringing Sarah with him didn't violate the law as it stood, he probably didn't pay the bond as required. There was an anti-slavery movement existing in Gallatin County at this point, and someone from that movement could have told Sarah she should be free. So at this point, everybody is at least partially wrong or liable in the eyes of the law: Haley for not pledging the bond, Sarah for not having her freedom papers filed with the county, and Sarah's helpers for stealing away the personal property of Mr. Haley. At this time the courts were ruling that a slave owner had the right to travel with a slave safely through Illinois and that the slave would have no right of freedom just because he or she entered Illinois. Only if the person resided in Illinois for six months or more did a slave could be determined free as in an 1846 case argued unsuccessfully by Lincoln (he was actually representing the slave holder in this one - the other side already had legal representation by the time he arrived in town). The year 1848 was a turbulent year for Gallatin County in part because of the legislature's decision to split the county and create Saline County. Either Equality or Shawneetown backers tried some election shenanigans to keep or steal the county seat. Equality is still the county seat for the first half of the year. The court last met there in June. Later, the court moved to the train depot in Shawneetown that the county board rented off of the Catholic priest who was using it as a church. Thus if a crowd gathered round the courthouse, it probably took place in the spring or summer session of the court in Equality. Also, that town had more of the anti-slavery activists in it than did Shawneetown. The problem is that 1848 is part of an era where most of the county court records are missing. If the case was held before a Justice of the Peace, the records would have never made it to the courthouse. Also, this could have been a civil case in where Haley sued the people helping Sarah, in which case it could have been heard by the county, or a criminal case of some type heard by the circuit court. If anyone ever finds more about this case I would be interested. Part of the research I'm doing is trying to find all we can about the lives of black residents in antebellum Gallatin County regardless of whether they were free or enslaved. David, thanks again for sending the letter to the editor to the list. Sincerely, Jon Musgrave www.IllinoisHistory.com