David and Lucy Powell and their 4 children escaped in October, 1847 from John Norris in Petersburg. In 1849, Norris and several others made an attempt to recapture them in Cassopolis, MI, but were stopped in South Bend, IN with a writ of habeas corpus. The Powells slipped away. Norris successfully sued the men who helped derail his efforts for the value of the lost enslaved people. He was awarded more than $2800 in this well-covered case. The South Bend Fugitive Case: Involving the Right to a Writ of Habeas Corpus published by the Anti-slavery Office, 1851; Vermont Watchman, Montpelier, Vt; 11 July 1850
