There was no trace of African descent in
any feature of Salome Muller. She had long,
straight, black hair, hazel eyes, thin lips, and
a Roman nose. The complexion of her face and
neck was as dark as that of the darkest brunette.
It appears, however, that, during the twenty-five
years of her servitude, she had been exposed to
the sun's rays in the hot climate of Louisiana, with
head and neck unsheltered, as is customary with
the female slaves, while labouring in the cotton or
the sugar field. Those parts of her person which
had been shielded from the sun were compara-
tively white.
Belmonte, the pretended owner of the girl, had
obtained possession of her by an act of sale from
John F. Miller, the planter in whose service
Salome's father died. This Miller was a man of
consideration and substance, owning large sugar
estates, and bearing a high reputation for honour
and honesty, and for indulgent treatment of his
slaves. It was testified on the trial that he had
said to Belmonte, a few weeks after the sale of
Salome, "that she was white, and had as much
right to her freedom as any one, and was only to
be retained in slavery by care and kind treatment."
The broker who negotiated the sale from Miller to
Belmonte, in 1838, testified in Court that he then
thought, and still thought, that the girl was white!
The case was elaborately argued on both sides,
but was at length decided in favour of the girl,
by the Supreme Court declaring that "she was
free and white, and therefore unlawfully held in
bondage.
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