Apparently name calling is nothing new.  In Carteret County, NC at the March court of 1745, Edward Fuller, mariner, filed papers against Richard Thompson.  Apparently, judging from this and Richard’s reply, the men, both working on a sloop riding in Port Beaufort, quarreled on February 15th.  A fight ensued, apparently a pretty severe one including swords and fists, and so did character assassination.

In Edward’s filing, he claims that Richard said of him the following “scandalous and opprobrious words,” as follows:  that he (Edward) was “a common lyer and Rogue and that the said Edward was the son of an Indian Woman (bitch) affirming that the said Edward was of an Indian Breed.”

Edward claims, in essence, that Richard refused to retract what he said and that his reputation is now tarnished, where it was not before, and that he is concerned about it being a “stain on his offspring and posterity…to future ages.”

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-26513-29729-44?cc=1930242&wc=M9QR-R1D:n730229327

I don’t know if Edward was in reality of mixed heritage, but sometimes, where there is smoke, there is fire.

Richard, however, countersued and claimed, among other things, that Edward called him a “half-negro.”  Hmmm.  Maybe all of this happened as a result of Edward stomping on Richard’s head with his boots.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-26513-29696-20?cc=1930242&wc=M9QR-R1D:n730229327

We don’t know the outcome of this case, but I’m betting that the sloop where they were working wasn’t nearly large enough for both of them.

Hat tip to Sharron for this information.