sentences:  The slave Jeems, described as "nearly white," had escaped and traveled by steamship from Florida to New York City.Upon arrival, Jeems was detained by police officers (alerted by the ship's captain), who put him in irons and detained him at a house in Brooklyn, intending to return him under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and claim the bounty.Upon being detected and cited into court, the police officers and Stead's attorney argued that New York's laws against slavery did not apply because Stead and Jeems were residents of another state.