Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Negro Tom (b. ? - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51887 
Slave Pardoned for Crime in Talbot County, Maryland

Biography:

    Negro Tom was an enslaved African American in Talbot County, Maryland. As a slave, Negro Tom was owned by Thomas Cooper, a property owned in Talbot County.1 On February 14, 1773, Negro Tom allegedly committed the crime of breaking and entering in "the Store House of a Certain Jeremiah Banning."2 Negro Tom allegedly stole the following items from Jeremiah Banning's store house: "two Gallons of Rum of the Value of five shillings Current money forty five pounds of Bacon of the value of twenty shillings Current money and three pounds of Biscuit of the value of Six pence Current money."3 Jeremiah Banning sailed a thirty-ton, six-gun schooner, Humming Bird, owned by Thomas Cooper and H. Breckell in the 1750s, which shows Banning and Cooper were well-acquainted with one another.4 

    During the March Court of 1773, Negro Tom proclaimed his innocence by stating that he was not guilty of the crime and "put himself upon the Country" to make a verdict.5 While awaiting the verdict of his trial, Negro Tom was placed under the custody of William Thomas, "Gent. High Sheriff of Talbot County."6 The twelve jurors in the case decided that Negro Tom was "guilty" of the felony charge.7 Negro Tom was to "be taken to the prison from whence he Came and from thence be Drawn to the place of Execution and there be Hanged by the Neck untill he be dead."8 Many people were executed in colonial Maryland for various crimes that ranged from murder to passing counterfeit money.9 From 1726-1775, 146 out of 268 people who were hanged for their crimes were Negro or mulatto slaves.10

    On July 3, 1773, Negro Tom was recommended "as a proper Object of Our Mercy."11 Despite Negro Tom's conviction in March of 1773, Upton Scott writes "we grant unto him the said Negro Tom our firm peace and will not that he suffer any Corporal Punishment...as if the Said Felony whereof he the said Negro Tom hath been convict had never been done or committed."12 With that declaration, Negro Tom was officially pardoned for the crime he had allegedly committed. It's unknown why he was granted a pardon, but it could have been because the court/treasury didn't want to pay for the value of the slave. According to the Acts of 1737, Ch. 7, the value of the slave would be made by the court and the Treasurer of the Western Shore or Eastern Shore would pay the master or owner.13 This law could have played a part in the court pardoning Negro Tom for his alleged felony.

Endnotes:

1. TALBOT COUNTY COURT (Criminal Record) 1767-1774. Negro Tom. Location: 01/43/03/013. MdHR Number: 9082. MSA C1857-6.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Jeremiah Banning, “1755 Master of Schooner, Visits Hampton Roads” in Log and Will of Jeremiah Banning (1733-1798) (New York: W. F. Austin, 1933)

5. TALBOT COUNTY COURT (Criminal Record) 1767-1774. Negro Tom. MSA C1857-6.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.

9. Ellefson, C. Ashley. Seven Hangmen of Colonial Maryland. (Cortland, New York, 2009), 19.

10. Ibid.

11. GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL (Commission Record) 1733-1773. Negro Tom. Folio 318-319. Location: 02/26/03/013. MdHR Number: 4012-1. MSA S1080-4.

12. Ibid.

13. ARCHIVES OF MARYLAND ONLINE, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, 1737-1740, Vol. 40, Ch. VII, pg. 93-94.

Researched and Written by Tanner Sparks, 2013. 

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