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Sheriff's Sale of a Free Negro (January 21st, 1859)
>From The American Sentinel; Westminster, MD

Summary: Free Negro John Bud to be sold for one year at sheriff's sale in Westminster "for being without visible means of support and not of good and industrious habits."

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Death of a Colored Preacher (May 4th, 1859)
>From The Herald of Freedom & Torch Light; Hagerstown, MD

Summary: African American preacher James Brown died recently as one of the “oldest colored Clergymen in the United States.” He was once a slave of the late Benjamin Galloway.

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A Fugitive Slave Case (June 29th, 1859)
>From The Herald of Freedom & Torch Light; Hagerstown, MD

Summary: Agnes Robinson, an African American woman, and her child Mary were arrested in Washington, D.C., for having escaped from slavery in Washington County twelve years earlier. The woman and her child have been sent to Hagerstown so that her right to freedom can be determined in the local court.

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(October 6th, 1859)
>From The Carroll County Democrat; Westminster, MD

Summary: An unnamed African American girl, owned by John W. Swartsbaugh, was gored by a bull

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All for Love (October 14th, 1859)
>From The Valley Register; Middletown, MD

Summary: A slave belonging to Mr. Benton of Sharpsburg hanged himself because his owner wouldn't sell him to go South with his girlfriend.

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Local News (October 27th, 1859)
>From The Carroll County Democrat; Westminster, MD

Summary: An attempt to liberate slaves belonging to three different men was discovered and thwarted

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$25 Reward (October 27th, 1859)
>From The Carroll County Democrat; Westminster, MD

Summary: Mary Smith offers a reward for the recovery of an African American girl who has run away

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A man calling himself… (November 11th, 1859)
>From The Valley Register; Middletown, MD

Summary: A man named Dr. W. Boyd from near New Windsor [Carroll Co.] was arrested last week and put in jail in Carroll County for trying to smuggle a couple of slaves into Pennsylvania. He had a wagon expressly fitted for that purpose.

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Death from Intemperance (November 18th, 1859)
>From The Valley Register; Middletown, MD

Summary: An African American woman named Kitty Williams, wife of Edward Williams, 'alias Tar Blossom,' was found dead in her house in Frederick. Justice M. Baltzell held an inquest and the jury returned the verdict as death by intemperance. [from the Frederick Examiner]

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Committed Suicide (November 18th, 1859)
>From The Valley Register; Middletown, MD

Summary: A slave named William Davis of Fairplay committed suicide by hanging himself. It was said that he had "too great an intimacy with a white girl" and feared what might be done to him, so killed himself. [from Boonsboro' Odd Fellow]

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