A more heart-rending act of villainy has rarely been committed than the following: on Monday, the 30th of May last, three children, viz., Elizabeth, ten years of age, Martha, eight, and a small boy, name forgotten, all bright mulattoes, were violently taken from the arms of their mother, Elizabeth Price, a free woman of color, living in Fayette County, Tennessee. Strong suspicion rests upon two men, gone from thence to the state of Missouri; and it is ardently hoped that the citizens of that state will interest themselves in the apprehension of the robbers and the restoration of the children. A handsome subscription has been raised in the neighborhood to reward any person who may restore them. Editors of papers, and especially such as are in and contiguous to the state of Missouri, are requested to give the above an insertion.[111] One of the greatest organizations in the South for the stealing of negroes had its headquarters in West Tennessee and was managed by John A. Murrell. This organization consisted of 450 persons and operated throughout the Mississippi Valley. This organization was in collusion with slaves. It stole the same slaves repeatedly and sold them sometimes to their own masters. Murrell’s last stealing was two slaves from Rev. John Hennig, of Madison County, Tennessee. He was caught in 1835, tried, convicted, and sentenced for the maximum term of ten years in the state penitentiary.[112] D. _Trading With Slaves._ The foundation for the regulation of traffic with slaves was laid by the acts of 1741 and 1787, passed by the Colony and State of North Carolina.[113] In 1799, all traffic with slaves was forbidden unless they had a permit from their masters, designating time and place of the proposed transaction.[114] It was a ten dollar fine to be convicted of violating this regulation. If a slave forged a pass as a basis for such a transaction, he was corporally punished at the discretion of a justice of the peace. Trading with slaves was made a more serious matter in 1803.[115] The pass by this act was required to specify the articles to be traded. Any one violating it was punishable by a fine of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars. In 1806, it was made unlawful for a white person, free negro, or mulatto to be found in the company of a slave for any purpose without the consent of the owner.[116] In 1813, the restrictions on trading with slaves were made more lenient. The fine for trading in violation of the law was reduced to not less than five nor more than ten dollars and slaves might trade articles of their own make without passes from their masters.[117]