He worked at “task work” two months, being obliged to wheel sixteen square yards per day. At the end of two months he broke down again, and was sick. They tried one month to cure him, but did not succeed. In July, 1853, he was taken to an infirmary in Macon. Dr. Nottinghan and Dr. Harris, of that institution, both stated that his was the worst case of the kind they ever had. He remained at the infirmary two months and partially recovered. He told the story of his wrongs to these physicians, who tried to buy him. One of his legs was drawn up so that he could not walk well, and they offered four hundred dollars for him, which his master refused. The doctors wanted him to attend their patients, (mostly slaves). While in Georgia he was frequently asked where he came from, being found more intelligent than the common run of slaves.
On the 12th of March he ran away from Macon and went to Savannah. There he hid in a stable until Tuesday afternoon at six o’clock, when he secreted himself on board the Keystone State. At 9 o’clock the next morning the Keystone State left with Davis secreted, as we have before stated. With his imprisonment in Newcastle, after being pronounced free, our readers are already familiar. We subjoin the documents on which he was discharged from his imprisonment in Newcastle, and his subsequent re-committal on the oath of Capt. Hardie.
COPY OF FIRST ORDER OF COMMITMENT.
New Castle county, ss., State of Delaware.—To Wm. R. Lynam, Sheriff of said county. —— Davis (Negro) is delivered to your custody for further examination and hearing for traveling without a pass, and supposed to be held a Slave to some person in the State of Georgia.
[Seal]. Witness the hand
and seal of John Bradford, one of the
Justices of the Peace for
the county of Newcastle, the 17th day
of March, 1854.
JOHN BRADFORD, J.P.
COPY OF DISCHARGE.
To Wm. R. Lynam, Sheriff of
Newcastle county: You will discharge
—— Davis
from your custody, satisfactory proof having been
made before me that he is
a free man. JOHN BRADFORD, J.P.
Witnesses—Joanna Diamond, John H. Brady, Martha C. Maguire.
COPY OF ORDER OF RE-COMMITMENT.
New Castle county, ss., the State of Delaware to Wm. R. Lynam, and to the Sheriff or keeper of the Common Jail of said county, Whereas —— Davis hath this day been brought before me, the subscriber, one of the Justices of the Peace, in and for the said county, charged upon the oath of Robert Hardie with being a runaway slave, and also as a suspicious person, traveling without a pass, these are therefore to command you, the said Wm. R. Lynam, forthwith to convey and deliver into the custody of the said Sheriff, or keeper of the said jail, the body of the said Davis, and you the said Sheriff or receiver of the body of the said Davis into your custody in the said jail, and him there safely keep until he be thence delivered by due course of the law.
Given under my hand and seal
at New Castle this 21st day of
March, A.D., 1854.