James Browne (b. 1842 -
d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51277
Kidnapped, Queen Anne's County, Maryland
Biography:
James Brown was a free black living in Centreville with his mother, Matilda Brown, under the residence of William Cahall. After putting her son to bed on the night December 10, 1850, Matilda visited a neighbor. She returned a short while later to find the seven year-old boy missing. James had been kidnapped by Cahall, Thomas Moffit, and Zenos Dawson, who then sold him to Henry Thawley for $175. They traveled northeast to Millington in Kent County then further to Sassafras. The men conspired to sell Brown, who was just seven years old, as a slave for life in Baltimore.
However, county authorities intercepted the men en route and returned him to his mother. All four of his kidnappers faced criminal charges. James, due to state statute that forbade blacks from testifying in cases involving a white defendant, was unable to serve as a witness. At the suggestion of Albert T. Emory, Deputy Attorney General for the state of Maryland, the Queen Anne's County Court issued a subpoena to the Sheriff of Baltimore City, Charles F. Cloud, for the apprehension of Moses Grisse. Emory deemed Grisse to be a "competent and material" witness of Thawley's and Cahall's guilt.
Grisse never appeared. The Clerk of Queen Anne's County Court decreed that Sheriff Cloud "neglected and delayed" to enforce the subpoena of Grisse. The judges of the Court held Cloud in contempt for his negligence and ordered him to pay a twenty dollar fine to the State of Maryland for failure on both subpoenas. As a result Dawson, Cahall, and Moffit were acquitted for a "want of evidence." Thawley was acquitted for a “want of testimony.” In the end, no jail time was faced for Browne's attempted abduction.
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