100 $50 REWARD. ABSCONDED from this place where he was bound to a Black-smith, a NEGRO MAN Called SAM… [opening lines]

“And probably will endeavor to hire as a free man…”

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Unrecorded. An extraordinary discovery, a printer’s proof for a reward broadside printed in Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812. Per the docketing seen on its verso, the proof was subsequently mailed to “The Editor of the National Intelligencer.”

This broadside was printed for John Threlkeld (1757–1830), a wealthy Georgetown landowner, farmer, alderman and mayor. Threlkeld was an influential figure in political and agricultural circles. He was also an enslaver of at least fifty African Americans, many of whom had been inherited from his grandfather, Gustavus Brown, a physician and close friend of George Washington.

With all amendments and revisions, the document reads:

“100 $50 REWARD. ABSCONDED from this place where he was bound to a Blacksmith, a NEGRO MAN Called SAM. Said man is about 24 years old, slender and very black; oval face, a scar over one eye, stands generally with one foot forward and seems to drag his feet, having a very slovenly walk, notwithstanding is very active and healthy, apt to get drunk, and very quarrelsome; he is a Good Blacksmith, And probably will endeavor to hire as a free man. He is well known to most of the Stage drivers, as the man with whom he lived did all the work for Mr. Crawford’s Union Tavern. He went away the 5th inst. and was apprehended at M‘Coy’s, between this and Baltimore, but escaped the same night, and had gone that far with a tin-man’s cart, as I have been informed. + has been since been in the City of Washington. I will give ten dollars if taken in the City of Washington; thirty is if taken in Baltimore and lodged in Baltimore before gaol, and the above reward if taken in Baltimore and brought to Washington gaol. John Threlkeld. Georgetown, July 21, 1813.”

Threlkeld’s broadside was printed by William Alexander Rind, the eldest child of William and Clementina Rind, printers behind the first avowedly- political press established in Virginia. W.A. Rind left the United States in the 1780s to pursue his trade in British Canada where he worked for the loyalist printer James Robertson, Sr. Rind then became the King’s printer. (Index of Virginia Printing)

Subsequently, Rind published the Virginia Federalist from 1799 to 1800 before relocating to Washington in 1800 to establish the Washington Federalist. By 1808, he shifted to job printing. After that year, very few imprints can be attributed to Rind’s press, and the extent of his job printing is unclear. (ibid.)

Slave reward broadsides printed in the District of Columbia are rare. In comparison, those from nearby Virginia and Maryland survived in greater quantity as these states had larger geographies and populations, and more slave-owners than the District. This 1813 example is very early, and for a printer’s proof for such a broadside to survive is unheard of. They would have been discarded almost immediately.

By Summer of 1814, the self-emancipated “Negro Man Called Sam” still eluded Threlkeld’s grasp, but Threlkeld was persistent. In the July 22, 1814 issue of the Federal Republican he placed an almost-identical reward advertisement. Now, however, Threlkeld was willing to pay $150 for the recapture of his formerly-enslaved and highly-skilled laborer, a 200% increase from his initial top-offer of $50.

Price: $25,000.00