[Texas]: [Edwards, Monroe]:

$2,250 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

[PARTIALLY-PRINTED DOCUMENT TITLED "SHERIFF SALE, DISTRICT COURT," ACCOMPLISHED IN MANUSCRIPT, RECORDING THE SALE OF A YOUNG ENSLAVED BOY NAMED JEFF TO PAY DAMAGES IN A SUIT BROUGHT BY TEXAS ... A partially-printed form accomplished in manuscript, announcing the upcoming sale by Brazoria County Sheriff's office of an enslaved child belonging to legendary smuggler and swindler Monroe Edwards, in order to satisfy a judgment made against him in favor of Texas Declaration signer Edwin Waller.Monroe Edwards (1808-1847) was a notorious early Texas criminal, moving to the Galveston area as a teenager when it was still under Mexican control. Before long he fell in with the illegal African slave trade and began smuggling enslaved Africans to Brazil through his plantation in Brazoria County, named "Chenango." In 1836, he partnered with a man named Christopher Dart to purchase contracts from indentured servants in Cuba and import them to Chenango for labor, promising to split the plantation's proceeds. Monroe refused to honor the agreement, and forged multiple documents from Dart to use as evidence in court when a suit was brought – not a wise move on his part, considering that by the time of trial the men were in the Republic of Texas, which punished forgery with death. When his forgeries were outed in the trial, Edwards fled to England, posing as an abolitionist to earn support from various societies. His forged letters of introduction got him into trouble once again, and he was oblig

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