In 1824 the General Assembly noted "that Baltimore county is subjected to great annual expense on account of negroes being committed to the jail of that county, on suspicion of being runaway slaves" (Chapter 171, Laws of 1824). The law goes on to outline procedures for detaining suspected runaway slaves. The (Runaway Docket) of the Baltimore jail contains brief entries about African Americans apprehended in the Baltimore area, who were suspected runaways. The dockets cover 1831 to 1864 and include blacks whose alleged owners resided in all parts of Maryland. The entries list the runaway's name, the date committed to jail, the name of the justice of the peace handling the case, the charge (running away), the name and residence of the presumed owner, and the name of the witness claiming the person is a runaway. Also included are notes on the disposition of the case. Most typical is a note stating that the warden released the slave to the owner or the owner's agent. Usually the owner signed for the slave. If the suspected runaway could not prove he or she was free, the sheriff would hold the suspect and advertise him or her as a runaway in the newspapers. If no owner appeared as the result of the ad, the suspect was set free.