At St.Louis in 1859 Corbin Thompson and Bernard M.Lynch were the principal slave dealers.

The rates of the latter, according to his placard, were 37-1/2 cents per day for board and 2-1/2 per cent, commission on sales; and all slaves entrusted to his care were to be held at their owners' risk.[18] [Footnote 15: _Southern Business Directory_ (Charleston, 1854), I, 163.] [Footnote 16: Atlanta _Intelligencer_, Mch.

7, 1860.] [Footnote 17: _Southern Business Directory_, II, 131.] [Footnote 18: H.A.Trexler, _Slavery in Missouri, 1804-1865_ (Baltimore, 1914), p.

49.] On the other hand a rural owner disposed to sell a slave locally would commonly pass the word round among his neighbors or publish a notice in the county newspaper.

To this would sometimes be appended a statement that the slave was not to be sent out of the state, or that no dealers need apply.
The following is one of many such Maryland items: "Will be sold for cash or good paper, a negro woman, 22 years old, and her two female children.