The legal status of enslaved people in New York State was complex. By 1827, slavery was illegal in New York. However, because of an 1817 state law that was still on the books, non-residents could still bring enslaved people into New York for up to nine months without having to free them. But Ruggles reasoned that the captain of the Brilliante couldn’t take advantage of this loophole because the Brilliante was a foreign vessel. Congress had outlawed the international slave trade in 1807, clarifying and extending the prohibition on slave-trading in 1818 and 1820. In short, bringing enslaved men from outside of the U.S. into New York Harbor violated these Federal laws. So, on Friday, December 10, Ruggles headed over to the office of the New York District Attorney, a man named William M. Price. After receiving Ruggles’ report, Price did nothing.
Ruggles returned on Monday, December 12, to check in on Price, who said he would “attend to it.” Ruggles left the District Attorney’s office with instructions from an office assistant to find out the name of the captain of the Brilliante. Ruggles came back again the same day and asked to talk to the Deputy Marshall, who said he didn’t have time deal with the matter that day and that he’d deal with it tomorrow. Ruggles responded, “but she”—the Brilliante—“may be gone.” The Deputy Marshall said that he needed more information and told Ruggles to come to his house that afternoon. But when Ruggles arrived at the house, there was, mysteriously, nobody home.
Already, you may want to stop reading this article and go do something more entertaining. Ruggles probably would have liked to go and do something else, too. In this story, Ruggles probably spent most of his time walking: from his home to the docks to various offices, homes, and institutions, then back again. In December, New York City was rainy, and sometimes snowy. The streets of New York were famously the filthiest in the United States, too, lined with privies piled high, which overflowed into the streets. Loose pigs and dogs snuffled in the mire. As a black man, Ruggles would not have been allowed to take one of the brand-new horse-drawn streetcars. He would have had to trudge through puddles and filthy snow.