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- ECCP record of judgment. Citation: Jenny Slew vs. John Whipple Jr. Essex Court Common Pleas September 1765 Record Book.
Transcription:Jenny Slew of Ipswich in the County of Essex Spinster Plt against John Whipple Jun. of said Ipswich Gentleman Deft in a plea of Trespass for that the said John upon the Twenty ninth day of February AD 1762 at Ipswich aforesaid with force and arms took her the said Jenny held & kept her in Servitude as a Slave in his Service and he restrained her of her liberty from that Time to the fifth of March last without any lawfull Right, or Authority so to do & did her Other Injuries Against the Peace and to the Damages of the said Jenny Slew as she saith the sum of Twenty five pounds. This Action was first brought at last March Court at Ipswich when & where the Parties Appeared & the Cause was Continued by Order of Court to the then next Term when & where the Plt Appeared and the John Whipple Jun Came by Edmund Trowbridge Esq his attorney and Defended when he said that there is no such Person in Nature a Jenny Slew of Ipswich aforesaid Spinster & this the said John was ready to verify wherefore the writ should be abated and the said John be allowed Costs and had prayed judgment. Accordingly which Plea was overruled by the Court and Afterwards the Said John by the said Edmund made a motion to the Court Praying that another Person might Endorse the writ & be subject to Costs if any should finally be for the Def but the Court Rejected this motion and then the Deft Saving his Plea in Abatement aforesaid Said that he is not Guilty as the Plt Complains & thereof put himself on the Country and then the Cause was continued to this Term and Now the Plt Reserving to herself the liberty of Joining Issue on the Deft's plea aforesaid on the Appeal Says the Deft's plea aforesaid is an Insufficient Answer to the Plt's Declaration aforesaid and by law She is not held to Reply thereto and this she is Ready to Verify wherefore for want of a Sufficient Answer to the Plt's Declaration aforesaid She prays Judgment for her Damages & Costs. And the Deft Consenting to the waving this Demurrer on the Appeal Says his plea aforesaid is good and because the Plt Refuses to Reply thereto he pray Judgment & for his Costs. It is Considered by the Court that the Deft’s plea in chief aforesaid is Good and that the Said John Whipple Recovers of the Said Jenny Slew Costs For it. The Plaintiff appealed to the next Superior Court of Judicature to be holden for this County and entered into recognizance with sureties as the law directs for prosecuting her appeal to effect.