$150 Reward For Runaway

Credit: Library of Congress
Media type: advertisement
Museum Number: Portfolio 22, Folder 12b
Annotation: Advertisement run in Kentucky newspaper ofering up to a $150 reward for the return of a runaway slave named Henry May. Even with the passage of fugitive slave legislature in the mid 19th century and the persistant use of “slave catchers”, advertisements offering rewards for the return of fugitive slaves remained one of the most effective and popular ways for slaveholder to recover their lost “property”. It was not uncommon to find citizens of non-slave holding states and law enforcement agents to hold suspected runaways in the hopes of collecting a monetary reward. Published: Bardstown, Kentucky; [3 September 1838].
Year: 1838