to them to be reliable means of determining the existence of negro descent or negro blood." To which the defendant objected, and excepted.
Wm. M. Ducker testified that he was sheriff of Ashley county, from 1849, until the last general election before the trial. The defendant listed his slaves for taxation by families, and not by name. He would name the head of the family, and make a gross estimate of their value. Witness could not say whether the plaintiffs were included in any of such lists or not. Abby was never named in making the lists. Witness never thought of taxing her, as the law exempted widows, and he passed her without enquiry. She was living with Guy when witness came to the State, and when he died, he gave her a tract of land, etc.
Jeremiah Oats testified that, when he first came to the State, he hauled some cotton for Abby. A year afterwards, she wanted him to move a fence. Having heard that defendant had control of her, witness spoke to him about doing the work, and asked him who would pay him for it. He said he had nothing to do with it. Witness told him they called her a negro. He said they could not prove it. That she could make her own contracts, and pay her own debts out of her property, and that witness could deal with her as he pleased.
K. Saunders testified that he had talked a great deal with defendant about Abby, but never heard him say she had no negro blood in her. It was understood that he had title papers to her. Witness had heard him say so. When she lived on the Bayou, she managed her own business, as a free woman, and visited among the whites as an equal. Defendant came to Arkansas in 1844, and from thence until just before suit, plaintiffs had lived to themselves, as free persons—had lived in this State during that time, except a year or two past, they moved to, and lived in Louisiana. A short time before suit, defendant took them in possession as slaves, and treated them as such when the action was brought.
A. Bull testified that, in 1849, he stepped into the court-house
