Sylvia v. Kirby

This was a suit for freedom, begun in McDonald county, by Sylvia against Kirby, which was afterwards taken, by change of venue, to the county of Dallas. It was alleged in the petition that the claimant, Sylvia, a free person ,of color, was held in slavery against her will by Joel Kirby; that in the year 1834, she was unlawfully taken by Kirby, her master, a citizen of the United States, as a slave, into the territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty- six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, and not included within the limits of…