Dred Scott's connection to Thebes, Ill., in doubt

THEBES, Ill. -- Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday in St. Louis to mark the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in the Dred Scott case, which was heard in the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis and brought the nation closer to civil war. But one place Scott is advertised to have been housed, one of the holding cells in the Thebes courthouse, has no events recognizing the anniversary.

"It has never been proven that he was here," said Pat Knapp, Thebes city treasurer. "There hasn't been any connection."

Knapp thinks the rumors started about Scott being in one of the courthouse cells because of an entry in an old record about a black man being held there. But nobody can find it, she said.

The plaque near the refurbished courthouse stating Scott was indeed a prisoner there is a mystery to her. "Who knows?" Knapp asked. "It could very well be true."

Dr. Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University, said it's possible people during that time were kept in the courthouse dungeons if they were arrested and charged, were runaways or had to be kept for their own protection.

Again, Knapp said, no records substantiate those possibilities.

Nickell said it's unlikely Scott visited the Thebes courthouse. "It was a great distance to hide him out at and no reason to hide him," he said.

Scott appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court in March 1857 after returning to the slave state of Missouri. He had previously lived in the free state of Illinois and free territory of Wisconsin.

The Supreme Court was led at that time by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who declared that all blacks, whether slaves or free, were not and would not ever become U.S. citizens. Taney's argument was that because Scott was black, and therefore not a citizen, he had no right to sue.

Despite the defeat, Scott, his wife and two children were given their freedom in 1857 by the same family that had owned him earlier in his life. Scott died the next year.

Several events related to the case will continue over the next year in St. Louis. About three dozen descendants of the Scotts gathered in St. Louis in recent days to mark the event, and about 20 were on hand for Tuesday's events, which included speeches, songs and a theater performance at the Central Library downtown.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

carel@semissourian.com

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