![[3733919] 100 Dollars Reward! Broke Jail at Fairfax County, Virginia on Tuesday night, May 2, a white man named James Henry Beach and Henry, a slave the property of A.S. Grigsby. [opening lines of broadside]. Walter Powell.](https://rareamericana.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/3733919.jpg?width=768&height=1000&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1711907377)
![100 Dollars Reward! Broke Jail at Fairfax County, Virginia on Tuesday night, May 2, a white man named James Henry Beach and Henry, a slave the property of A.S. Grigsby. [opening lines of broadside]](https://rareamericana.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/3733919.jpg?auto=webp&v=1711907377)
![100 Dollars Reward! Broke Jail at Fairfax County, Virginia on Tuesday night, May 2, a white man named James Henry Beach and Henry, a slave the property of A.S. Grigsby. [opening lines of broadside]](https://rareamericana.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/3733919_2.jpg?auto=webp&v=1711907377)
100 Dollars Reward! Broke Jail at Fairfax County, Virginia on Tuesday night, May 2, a white man named James Henry Beach and Henry, a slave the property of A.S. Grigsby. [opening lines of broadside]
Rare antebellum broadside with curious juxtapositions…
An unrecorded 1854 Virginia broadside offering a reward for two jail escapees: James Henry Beach, a white man wanted for attempted murder, and Henry, an enslaved Black man. Though Beach and Henry are paired in the reward notice, only Henry is labeled as property: “Henry (the slave),” owned by Alexander Spottswood Grigsby, a wealthy and very active slave-trader who represented Fairfax county in the Virginia legislature.
The reward disparity is telling: no sum is offered for Beach, who was jailed for attempted murder, while $25 to $100 is promised for Henry, depending on capture location. Whether jailed for a crime or for seeking freedom, Henry’s value to the jailer lay in his return as property—worth more, it seems, than the capture of an attempted murderer roaming free.
Additionally, the text details the men’s features. Its comment that Henry’s complexion was “somewhat bleached” from imprisonment may echo contemporary racial pseudoscience and its fixation on racial purity.
This is the first broadside we have ever encountered seeking both an enslaved African American and a white individual; a striking document showing how race, legal status, and economics shaped justice.
Description: 100 Dollars Reward! Broke Jail at Fairfax County, Virginia on Tuesday night, May 2, a white man named James Henry Beach and Henry, a slave the property of A.S. Grigsby. [opening lines of broadside]
[Virginia. 1854]. Broadside. 12 x 9½ inches. One expert, and small, tissue mend. Docketed: “1854 Mr. Powell for J.M. Beach.” Included with the broadside is a small 1854 manuscript slave-hire document, signed by A.S. Grigsby. It details the hiring of an enslaved man named George and a promise to furnish him with shirts, a suit, coat, and hat, a vest, boots, and blankets. This document has loss along its right edge.
[3733919]Not in Hummel. Notes: James Henry Beach is found in the records as having stabbed a man named Klingscale. He was tried in Commonwealth v. James H. Beach, a mistrial was declared. He was tried again and fined $200 and sentenced to 12 months. As seen here, he made his escape with news accounts saying he did so “in a manner somewhat mysterious ... it is very generally believe that ‘outside assistance’ was rendered the flown bird by whom is not known.” Amazingly, on June 6 it is reported that Beach (“A Desperado” and here seen as “Henry Beach”) called at a workhouse in Alexandria to see an inmate and tried to shoot his way in with a horse pistol. A scuffle ensued, and he was subdued. He was arrested and lodged in jail again. Sources on request.
Price: $3,500.00