d slaves for
sale. His name does not often appear in succeeding years. During the
next decade there were four regular dealers who apparently did
considerable business: T. Arterburn, J. Arterburn, William F. Talbott,
and Thomas Powell. Later John Mattingly came upon the scene presumably
from St. Louis. In July, 1845, the Arterburn brothers began a series
of advertisements which ran for several years. "We wish to purchase
100 negroes for the Southern market, for which we will pay the highest
prices in cash."[265] Talbott began his publicity in 1848 with these
words: "The subscriber wishes to purchase 100 negroes, for which he
will pay the highest cash prices. Can always be found at the
Louisville Hotel."[266] Two years later he was still advertising, but
had ceased placing any limit on the number to be bought and had moved
his quarters to the Hotel O'Rain.[267] Thomas Powell also began in
1848 with this stock phraseology--"Persons having negroes for sale can
find a purchaser at the highest cash prices by calling on the
subscriber, on Sixth Street, between Main and Market, adjoining H.
Duncan's stable."[268] This advertisement ran continually for a
period of two years. John Mattingly evidently came from Missouri in
the same year, and remained until 1852, when he returned to St. Louis
to ply his trade.[269] While he was in Louisville he ran an
advertisement in the _Journal_ after this fashion: "The undersigned
wishes to purchase 100 negroes both men and women, for which he will
pay the highest cash prices. Those who have negroes for sale would do
well to call on him at the Gait House."[270]

It is noticeable that none of the Louisville directories for this
period mention any slave dealers. This failure may have been due
merely to the fact that there were so few traders in the city and that
they were more or less transient residents. On the other hand, public
opinion apparently never acknowledged that there were any real
citizens of the city engaged in the slave trade. Beginning in 1840 the
_Louisville Journal_ published a weekly paper called _Louisville
Prices Current_. In 1855 this was succeeded by the _Commercial Review
and Louisville Prices Current_, which was published by the Louisville
Chamber of Commerce. These two papers devoted themselves exclusively
to the commercial transactions of the city and gave price quotations
weekly for every conceivable kind of goods in the market together with
the volume of sales. Strang