Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Maryland (1743-1787). Rare ADS signed "T: Stone," one page, 9.5 x 10.25, no date but circa February 14, 1771. Legal document boldly penned as attorney for the plaintiffs in a case of trespass against "Martha Porteus, Spinster," in part: "[A]nd whereupon the said Patrick Graham and Elizabeth his wife by Thomas [St]one their Attorney complain…that whereas the said Elizabeth…before her intermarriage…was possessed of one Mullato Boy-Slave called John Thomas of the price of fifty pounds sterling money as of her own proper Slave…the said Mullato Boy casually lost…to the hands and possession of the said Martha Porteus by finding came." The spinster, "intending craftily and subtlety to deceive" the couple, refused to deliver the slave and converted him to her own use. At the bottom, a note also declares that she had also converted "one Negro girl slave called Luce" to her own use. The plaintiffs therefore bring suit for damages in the amount of 70 pounds sterling. Matted and framed with a portrait and Maryland flag to an overall size of 21.5 x 19.5. In very good to fine condition, with small areas of paper loss affecting some text along the left edge, reinforced by silking on the reverse. Stone—a slave owner himself—is one of the rarer Declaration signers, and this handwritten document boasts significant content related to a tragic era of American history.
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