STATE v. NUTTER, 2 Del. Cas. 270 (1831)

Stout’s Notes

STATE v. SOLOMON NUTTER, free Negro.

Court of Quarter Sessions of Delaware, Sussex County.
April 19, 1831.

Frame [for State]. Layton [for defendant].

One cassinette coat value $4.00 4
________ Fourfold [$]16.00

Property of Sylvester Hickman.

1. Sylvester Hickman, sworn. I lost a cassinette coat; when it was missed Solomon Nutter was about my house. It was latter end of last August in North West Fork Hundred. Don’t know who stole the coat. Saw the coat one and a half or two months since. Was worth $5.00. It has not been returned to me. Solomon passes as a free Negro. The coat was taken from Levin Todd’s house where I lived.

2. Isaac Collins, sworn. I bought a cassinette coat of Solomon Nutter, which Sylvester Hickman saw afterward and claimed. Solomon said he bought it in Philadelphia, that it was too small for him.

1. Jeremiah Nichols, sworn, witness for defendant. Know Solomon Nutter for twenty years. He has sustained a fair character as far as know.

2. Nathaniel Clifton, sworn. Have known Solomon Nutter from a little boy. Never heard anything against him before this.

Frame to the court and jury.

Layton in reply.

Frame in conclusion.

The Court did not charge the jury. Verdict, guilty and coat worth $4.00.

Judgment, to pay fourfold — $16.00. Pay costs. Whipped twenty-one lashes. Disposed in state as servant not exceeding, seven years, and committed.

Page 271

[EDITORS’ NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINED RIDGELY’S NOTEBOOK AND RIDGELY’S NOTEBOOK IS NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.]

Page 273