Bloomer, a laborer, assaulted John Minor "to the evil example of all others in like cases." Witness Thomas Barrett testified that Bloomer asked Minor, a free man of color, to dismount his (Minor's) horse and give him the marriage license. If he did not produce it, Bloomer threatened to cut Minor's throat. Minor's brother William Minor was accused of abducting Bloomer's unnamed niece, a "white female infant of tender years" for the purpose of marrying her.