Reward Poster

A poster offers a cash reward for the return of a runaway slave to his oppressor, Monroe County, Missouri, 1850s. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 citizens and lawmen of free states and territories were obliged, under penalty of law, to return those who had escaped from bondage back unto those who considered them property. The text reads: '$500, reward. Ran away from the undersigned on Sunday the 9th inst., a negro boy named Aaron or Ape. He is about 20 years old, six feet high, with rather unusually large legs and arms; walks bent forward with one foot turned out more than the other. I will give $150,00 reward for him if taken in the county; $100.00 reward if taken in the counties south of this and $200,00 if taken in any of the Mississippi counties or $500,00 if taken out of the State. O.M. Harris, Three miles south of Middle Grove Monroe Coounty [sic], Missouri. Register Print--Macon City, MO.' (Photo by Kean Collection/Getty Images)