Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Sarah McMahon (b. ? - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-15154
Accomplice to slave flight, St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1859

Biography:

On December 28, 1859, Sarah McMahon was charged with harboring a slave.  The slave, Rose, belonged to Judge Peter W. Crain of Charles County.  Her trial took place in St. Mary's County Circuit Court during the November term of 1860.  She was convicted of harboring, concealing and detaining a slave and was sentenced to six years and six months in the State Penitentiary.  Judge Peter W. Crain was both the slave's owner and the original judge.  Judge Crain removed himself from the case and a special judge, Judge Robert Ford was appointed.  After hearing the testimony of McMahon's neighbor William H. Dean, the court ruled her guilty of the crimes.  By December several appeals were made to the governor of Maryland for her pardon.  The petit jury of the Circuit Court of St. Mary's County as well as the State's Attorney and Judge Ford wrote a petition for pardon to the governor.  Peter W. Crain, Rose's owner, even signed the request for the pardon.  On December 22, 1860, Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks pardoned McMahon. Later, Crain attempted to sell Rose, who was age 13 at the time, through a newspaper ad in St. Mary's Beacon on March 27, 1862.

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