- Collection:
- Southeastern Native American Documents, 1730-1842
- Title:
- Deposition of John Austin, 1836 Dec. 16, McMinn County, Tennessee / [sworn to before] John Camp
- Creator:
- Austin, John
- Publisher:
- Manuscript held by the Special Collections Library, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, MS2033 Penelope Johnson Allen, box 1, folder 137, document 0248.
- Date of Original:
- 1836-12-16
- Subject:
- Cherokee Indians--Claims against
Indians of North America--Crimes against - Location:
- United States, Tennessee, McMinn County, 35.42475, -84.61747
- Medium:
- depositions
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- text/html
image/jpeg - Description:
- This is the deposition of John Austin, sworn to before John Camp on December 16, 1836, concerning a bank note relative to a murder trial in McMinn County, Tennessee. The accused murderers, James Foreman and Anderson Springsten(?) and the victim, John Walker Jr., are Cherokee Indians. Springsten(?) and Foreman's lawyers, George W. Churchwell and Spencer Jarnigan, argued that Tennessee has no jurisdiction over Cherokee matters, and the case was sent to the United States Supreme Court.
Digital image and encoded transcription of an original manuscript, scanned, transcribed and encoded by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries in 2001, as part of GALILEO, funded in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. - Local Identifier:
- pa0248
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlna_pa0248
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlna_pa0248#item
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlna_pa0248/presentation/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: [title of item], MS2033 Penelope Johnson Allen, Special Collections Library, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, presented in the Digital Library of Georgia
- Extent:
- 2 pages/leaves
- Holding Institution:
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
Page: [1]
State of Tennessee McMinn County
Be it known that I John [unclear text: Camp ] a Justice of the Peace for the County aforesaid have called before [added text: me ] at my house in said County on this day
the 16th day of December 1836 and proceed to take the Deposition of John Austin a citizen of Calhoun in sd [said] County who after being duly sworn according to Law deposeth and says -- [deleted text: ] Question 1st [unclear text: Mr Austin ] are you acquainted with James Foreman & Anderson [unclear text: Springsten ] native Cherokees of the Cherokee nation who were charged with the murder of Ino [John] Walker Jr [deleted text: [illegible text] ] at Athens [unclear text: Court ] Tennessee in
1834 -- If so state if the note here presented is the note given by them to G.W. Churchwell & Spencer Jarnagin -- and what was it given for -- & state all about it. Answer. I am acquainted with the sd [said] Foreman, [unclear text: Springsten ], and was present when the note here [unclear text: shewd ] me, & answered to this paper, for twelve hundred Dollars dated
31st October 1834 & signed by James C. Foreman & Anderson [unclear text: Springsten ] payable to G.W. Churchwell & Spencer Jarnagin, was executed and I signed my name as a witness to said note after they signed and acknowledged it in my presence. They employed sd [said] Churchwell & Jarnagin as Lawyers to defend them against a charge of the state vs them for the murder of Jno [John] Walker Jr a native. executed this note in my presence to sd [said] Lawyers for their fees in sd [said] case and I was present in the courthouse and heard sd [said] Lawyers defend their case. upon a plea to the Jurisdiction
Page: [2]
of sd [said] Court, and they labered [labored] hard in sd [said] court for the Indian question, & argued the cause for several days and succeeded, in sustaining their plea -- and the Judge gave his opinion in favor of the pleas that the Courts of Tennessee had no jurisdiction of the case said note is just & the Indians aforesaid did [unclear text: Rec [Receive] ] value for sd [said] note as aforesaid -- The Attorney General appealing from the Judges opinion, to the Supreme Court of Tennessee where the cause was again argued as I have understood -- but the Supreme Court decided agst [against] the Indians pleas, & the cause is now gone to the Supreme Court of the U States -- . [added text: I have no knowledge of the fact nor do I believe the sd [said] ] note was unpaid -- .
further this Deponent saith not
[Signed] John Austin
State of Tennessee McMinn County
I, John Camp a Justice of the Peace for sd [said] County, do hereby certify that John Austin signed & swore to this Deposition & note described & enclosed as stated above before me this
16th day of December 1836 -- and I certify that I am acquainted with the Character of John Austin the deponent, and state that he is a respectable man & entitled to [deleted text: [illegible text] ] [added text: full ] credit --
[Signed] Jno [John] Camp
Justice of the Peace for the County of aforesd [aforesaid]