The Governor is the chief executive of the state whose function is to administer the laws of the state. One of the activities used to accomplish this function is the extraditing of criminals. This process may also be referred to as requisition and involves either a request from the Governor of Alabama for the return of criminials who have escaped to other states or a request to the Governor of Alabama for the extradition of criminals found in Alabama. This series consists of correspondence, petitions, and legal documents. Most of the items give details of the crime, the criminal, and the circumstances of the extradition/requisition request. The crimes committed by the felons included theft, murder, horse stealing, assault, forgery, and stealing slaves. Some of the more prominent cases include an appeal for the return of slave who escaped from Benjamin H. Rutherford of Macon Co. and was later discovered in Georgia; a request for the extradition of John Petty from a jail in Kentucky back to Huntsville, Ala. to stand trial for stealing a slave owned by Robert Lanford; and the case of Solomon White, an escapee from the Autauga Co. jail, who was being held in the Natchez, Miss. jail.
