Enslavementto
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Trial of Slave Catchers Michael, Mathias, Samuel and Henry Fetro
Attempted Kidnapping of Negro George, Newberry Township, York County, 1825
News Item from the York Gazette, 11 January 1825
Last week, at a Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, held for the county of York, Michael, Mathias, Samuel and Henry Fetro, were tried for a riot, assault and battery, and assault with intent to kill. It appeared from the evidence, that a runaway slave, the property of Thomas H. Gist, of Baltimore county, Md. was in the employ of Joseph Garretson, of Newberry township, York county -- that a reward on one hundred dollars was offered for his apprehension. The defendants, armed with a gun, sometime in August last, went to the house of Mr. Garretson to take the Negro. When the negro saw them approaching, he secreted himself in the house. The defendants, without any authority, entered the house and searched every part of it.
The negro on perceiving them jumped out of a window, and fled into a neighboring cornfield, to which the defendants pursued him, and after chasing him through the field, and finding themselves unable to seize him, they discharged the gun, which had the desired effect -- being severely wounded, he surrendered himself, when they bound and carried him back to his master.
The defendants had a printed advertisement, giving a description of the runaway, and altho' proved to be a slave, it was decided by the Court, that a printed paper conveyed no authority for his apprehension. The jury found three of the defendants, Michael, Mathias, and Samuel, guilty of a riot, and of an assault and battery on negro George -- and acquitted the defendant Henry.
The court sentenced each of the defendants found guilty of the riot, twenty dollars, and each of them found guilty of the assault and battery on negro George fourteen dollars, and to pay the costs of prosecution.
The fine and costs of prosecution amount to upwards of 180 dollars.
Notes
The Fetro men appear to have been local, all appearing in various notices or advertisements in York County newspapers of the period. Michael Fetro owned a farm in Newberry Township, so would have been knowledgable of African American workers on neighboring farms.
Sources
The Year of Jubilee
Vol. 1: Men of God and Vol. 2: Men of Muscle
by George F. Nagle
Both volumes of the Afrolumens book are now available to read directly from this site.
