O Say Can You See

On this 5th day of Decr. 1849, personally appeared in open court John Marbury attorney & counsel for the above named defendant & makes oath on the holy Evangely of Almighty God that Miss Kitty Magruder & Mrs. Magruder of Georgetown are material competent & proper witnesses for the Defendant in in he above entitled cause & that the said Defendant cannot in his opinion proceed with safety to the trial of the said cause with out the testimony of the said named witness. that be cause subpoena in the above case to issue to summon the said witness to attend and testify for the defendant, which was placed in the hands of James Adams who the deponent understood & believes was a bailiff of this court that he might serve the same. That the said Adams has returned the said summons non est & has informed the deponent that he called at the Dwelling of the said witnesses & enquired for them & was refused access to the said witness. the Deponent further states that he had a personal interview with the said named witnesses, & from the conversation which passed between him & the said witness he has reason to believe & does believe that he would be able to prove by the said witness, that the petitioner Ellen Johnson is the mother of Rachel, John, Robert & Louisa. that the said Ellen was the slave of the deceased Thomas Turner, & as such lived & served in his house [strikethrough] that the petitioner Rachel was born in the house of the said Turner & remained and lived in his family with her mother until   she was about 18 months, or two years of age. that about sixteen years since the said Ellen with the permission of her Master said Tho Turner first went with to live with her husband a free negro man named John Johnson, the father of her children, & took with her a child next older than Ratchel named Phoebe who was born in said Turners family. That when Mr Turner about nine years since removed from the Georgetown to Frederick town Maryland, on his being appointed clerk of the Ch. & Ohio Canal Comp. to took said Phoebe from her mother & carried her to Frederick as his slave & their kept her until her death. That while he was resident in Frederick he took this girl Ratchel to Frederick & either employed her as his servant in his family, or hired her out & recd her waged. That the petitioner Ratchel by leave of her master a short time before his death came to Georgetown to visit her parents, & afterwards [strikethrough] on the pretext of sickness remained there until the death of Mr Turner who shortly after died. That the said Petitioner Ellen, the mother of the other petitioners always up to the death of Mr Turner recognized him by speech & others wise as her master [strikethrough] This Deponent hopes & believes that thru the instrumentality of the process of the Court, the said witnesses being residents of Geo Town he may procure their attendance as the next term.

Test Jno. A. Smith clk