20881611https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/petition/20881611LouisianaEast Baton RougeParish22111816District14121821Districtdismissed; refiled; denied; appealed3112East Baton Rouge Parish, Clerk of Court Archives, Baton Rouge, LouisianaJames Morgan asserts that his slave named Ryner and her child are in Fergus Duplantier's "illegal possession." Morgan prays that the slaves be returned and that Duplantier pay $1,500 in damages. Several related documents uncover the circumstances that gave rise to the slave title dispute between Morgan and Duplantier. In 1811, Ryner's owner was a white woman named Milly [Mily] Deal, who at the time was living with her mulatto lover, a man named John Evans. That year, John Evans killed a slave belonging to another man and fled. The murder and Evans's flight from justice triggered a series of events that resulted in Ryner being shunted between Milly Deal and the murdered slave's owner, being transported to the Mississippi Territory, and, after Milly Deal's and John Evans's deaths, being sold and resold a number of times. Property owners (Black)Enslaver (FPOC)HomicideNative AmericansInterracial relationshipsDeath of enslaved (other)Title dispute (enslaved)Assessed Value (enslaved)Family kept together (Black)