The slaves, instead of being
put under the care of the zealous marshal of the district, were placed
in the hands of three bondsmen, friends of the judge. The marshal
notified the government of this irregularity, but apparently received no
answer. In 1822 the three vessels were condemned as forfeited, but the
court "reserved" for future order the distribution of the slaves.
Nothing whatever either then or later was done to the slave-traders
themselves. The owners of the ships promptly appealed to the Supreme
Court of the United States, and that tribunal, in 1824, condemned the
three vessels and the slaves on two of them.[104] These slaves,
considerably reduced in number "from various causes," were sold at
auction for the benefit of the State, in spite of the Act of 1819.
Meantime, before the decision of the Supreme Court, the judge of the
Supreme Court of West Florida had awarded to certain alleged Spanish
claimants of the slaves indemnity for nearly the whole number seized, at
the price of $650 per head, and the Secretary of the Treasury had
actually paid the claim.[105] In 1826 Lieutenant McKeever urgently
petitions Congress for his prize-money of $4,415.15, which he has not
yet received.[106] The "Constitution" was for some inexplicable reason
released from bond, and the whole case fades in a very thick cloud of
official mist.
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