From a book called “The Negro in Tennessee, 1790-1865” by Caleb Perry Patterson.
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The runaway was a great source of worry and expense to the master and somewhat of a terror to the community. The police system of slavery was never able to prevent runaways. If a runaway were caught outside the limits of a corporation, he was taken before a justice of the peace and asked for his master’s name. If he refused to give this information, he was placed in jail and advertised by a placard on the courthouse door and in the newspapers. If the slave was not claimed within twelve months, the sheriff of the county, on thirty days’ notice, sold him at the courthouse to the highest bidder, the net proceeds of the sale going to the county. The county court gave title of the slave to the purchaser.
The county jailer, with the consent of the county court or two of the justices of the peace, could hire out a runaway to either a private individual or an incorporated town. To release the county from obligation, he placed around the negro’s neck a collar, on which was stamped “P. G.” The wages of the slave went into the county treasury to be disposed of by the county court.
If an incorporated town or city hired the runaway, it gave bond to the sheriff of the county for double the value of the slave. This was the bond of the corporation to the State of Tennessee for the safekeeping, good treatment, and delivery of the slave to the owner or jailer at the completion of the contract. The wages of the slave went to the county. The corporation made a very careful description of the slave to use in case of escape.
A runaway arrested in an incorporated city was taken by a patrolman or policeman to the police-station. He was released to his owner on payment of one dollar. If he was not called for, he was hired to the city authorities, advertised and sold at public auction to the highest bidder. The proceeds of the sale went to the city and the city authorities made a deed of sale to the purchaser.
After 1819, the runaway could no longer be outlawed and killed by anyone who had the opportunity. By act of 1825, a runaway was advertised one year before he was sold at public auction. If the owner, within two years from the date of sale, proved that the slave was his, he could recover the net proceeds of the sale or the slave himself by paying the purchaser the amount paid for the slave. Any one who arrested a runaway and delivered him to the owner or jailer, was entitled to the sum of five dollars for his services. After 1831, it was not required by law to make a proclamation concerning a runaway at church “on the Lord’s day.” By act of 1844, sheriffs were given authority to hire out a runaway in their custody to municipal authorities, who, however, were required to execute bond twice the value of the slave for proper treatment of him. It seems that sheriffs, constables, and patrolmen abused the power given them by act of 1831, relative to the arrest of runaways for which they received five dollars. Masters were subject to useless fees for the arrest of slaves who were not runaways. In 1852, the arrest and confinement of slaves in county jails in the towns and vicinities of their masters was forbidden.
