Lusk v. Swon

The plaintiff instituted this suit to recover from the defendant the value of a negro hired by the defendant from the plaintiff, and taken to St. Louis as a waiter on a steamboat commanded by the defendant — the negro having- absconded at St. Louis and never returned to his master, in New Orleans. Among other defences set up, the defendant relied on a special plea that the negro hired by him and who had escaped, was free, as the defendant had discovered after hiring- him. The plaintiff then called in warranty Charles B. Church, who sold the negro to W. D. Dougherty, from whom the plaintiff…