Elijah Kimbrough came of age 8 May 1814 ; but Davis neglected to convey the negro and in September, 1819, Kimbrough filed his bill in the court of equity for Wake county, North Carolina, against Davis and his mother, to compel them to execute this agreement specifically. In September, 1826, the cause was removed to the Supreme Court, where it was heard at December term, 1827. The court decreed that Davis should “deliver the negroes to Kimbrough, and that he should convey them by a deed sufficient to the pass the absolute property." Davis turned over the slaves, "Lucy, [and her issue] Diley, Arthur, Samson, and Staford ... to Simmons, Kimbrough's agent, and they were taken to Tennessee" where they were given to Peak, his creditor. Thereupon Kimbrough, who was living in Tennessee at that time, "journeyed to North Carolina, where in August, 1829, he killed Davis, and was hung for the murder on the 5th of November, 1830. Never had been married, he died without issue."
