Biography
Milton Chaney was convicted in Lancaster District, South Carolina, of carrying away an enslaved man named Toney. The appellate record says Chaney took Toney to Virginia under the name Martin, used the alias Jerry M. Tobert, and exchanged him for an enslaved woman and $200 while presenting a purported bill of sale. The court rejected Chaney’s challenge to the evidence and upheld the conviction despite acknowledging its “terrible consequences.” He was hanged on July 11, 1856. The record describes trafficking for value, not abolitionist assistance.