Celia, a Slave

Chapter Three: INQUISITION

Chapter Three IBBX^TTISITIOKT S OMETIME early in the morning of Sunday, June 24, 1855, Virginia and Mary Newsombecame concerned about their father, who had not appeared for the morning meal. Their increasing concern about their father's disappearance, a fear that something was amiss, prompted the daughters to begin to search for him. Virginia looked first along "all the paths and walksand every place for him" without success. Next she searched along the creek, fearing that Newsom had fallen into the creek and drowned. The women hunted for Robert Newsom in the coves along the creek banks, but "found no trace ofhim."At this point the daughters, evidently realizingthat their efforts alone were unlikely to locate their father, called upon their neighbors for help. By ten o'clock that morningWilliam Powell, whose farm adjoined the Newsomplace, had joined with other neighbors to help Virginia and Mary look for their father. Someone carried the news ofhis father'sdisappearance to Harry Newsom,who immediatelywent tojoin the search. When he arrived at his father's home sometime before noon, Harry found others, including Powell, already engaged in the hunt for his father. The search continued in vain until someone, probably a member of the Newsom family, suggested that George, Celia's lover, might be able to provide some information. That George was singled out strongly suggests that family members were aware of the nature ofhis relationship with Celia and suspected that jealousy might have caused him to harm Newsom.1 The search party located George and broughthim forward 33 CELIA, A SLAVE for questioning. William Powell, who seems to have assumed leadership of the search party despite the presence ofHarry Newsom, conducted George's interrogation. Powell's keen interest in the fate of Newsom was very likely prompted by more than the fact that they were neighbors. The almost uncanny similarities in their lives provided Powell reasons aplenty to take a personal interest in Newsom's disappearance . Like Newsom, Powell had migrated westward to Missouri seeking cheap, fertile land on which to raise a family and seek his fortune. Born in Maryland in 1814, he had moved with his family to Kentuckythree years later, where he was raised on a farm and educated in common schools. In 1836 he married Sallie Bowles and moved to Missouri, settling in Callaway County alongside the already prospering farm of Robert Newsom. Powell, too, had suffered the loss of a wife. In fact, he had lost two wives;he lost his first wife in childbirth a year after their marriage, and in 1839 married Jane Cheatham, by whom he had four more children. Jane also died in childbirth in 1846, and within the year Powell had remarried. He chose Mary Fitzhugh as wife and mother to his children, and the couple would have seven more offspring . Powell's financial fortunes, like those ofRobert Newsom , had prospered, and by 1850 he owned some 160 acres of land valued at $800, most of which was cleared and productive . Like Newsom, Powell was also a slaveowner, in 1850 of a male slave aged 36 and a female slave 16. Thus if Powell retained the slaves he held in 1850, he would have been the owner, in 1855, ofat least one adult male slave and a female slave approximately two years older than Celia. As the owner of a female slave Celia's age, who most likely had contact with Celia (although there is no record that she did so), Powell could hardly have been an objective inquisitor.2 George, who no doubt by this time understood the seriousness of the situation, was a reluctant witness when confronted by Powell. He certainly had every reason to be frightened by the accusations of an angry delegation of whites. He may also have wanted to protect Celia. This explanation, of course, assumes that Celia had informed George of Newsom's fate, a circumstance that was entirely possible, even probable, given their relationship, though nothing in Celia's trial record indicates that she had. Powell 34 INQUISITION first asked George, whom he described as Newsom's"Negro boy," where he thought Newsom was. George replied that he did not know, but believed "it wasnot worth while to hunt for him any where except close around the house." This response led Powell to conclude that George knew more than he was telling, and Powell informed George that "he had better go and...