The Underground Railroad
State or Territory in which such service or labor was due, to
the State or Territory, in which he or she was arrested, with
authority to such claimant, or his or her agent or attorney, to
use such reasonable force and restraint as may be necessary,
under the circumstances of the case, to take and remove such
fugitive person back to the State or Territory from whence he or
she may have escaped, as aforesaid. In no trial or hearing,
under this act, shall the testimony of such alleged fugitives be
admitted in evidence, and the certificates in this and the first
section mentioned, shall be conclusive of the right of the
person or persons in whose favor granted to remove such
fugitives to the State or Territory from which they escaped, and
shall prevent all molestation of said person or persons by any
process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person
whomsoever.
SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall
knowingly and willfully obstruct, hinder, or prevent such
claimant, his agent, or attorney, or any person or persons
lawfully assisting him, her or them from arresting such a
fugitive from service or labor, either with or without process,
as aforesaid, or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such
fugitive from service or labor, or from the custody of such
claimant, his or her agent, or attorney, or other person or
persons lawfully assisting, as aforesaid, when so arrested,
pursuant to the authority herein given and declared, or shall
aid, abet, or assist such person, so owing service or labor, as
aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from such claimant,
his agent or attorney, or other person or persons legally
authorized, as aforesaid, or shall harbor or conceal such
fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of such
person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person
was a fugitive from service or labor, as aforesaid, shall, for
either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one
thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by
indictment and conviction before the District Court of the
United States, for the district in which such offence may have
been committed, or before the proper court of criminal
jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized
Territories of the United States; and shall, moreover, forfeit
and pay, by way of civil damages, to the party injured by such
illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand dollars for each
fugitive so lost, as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of
debt in any of the District or Territorial Courts aforesaid,
within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been
committed.
SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the Marshals, their
deputies, and the clerks of the said districts and territorial
courts, shall be paid for their services the like fees as may be
allowed to them for similar services in other cases; and where
such services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, custody,
and delivery of the fugitives to the claimant, his or her agent,
or attorney, or where such supposed fugitive may be discharged
out of custody from the want of sufficient proof, as aforesaid,
then such fees are to be paid in the whole by such complainant,
his agent or attorney, and in all cases where the proceedings
are before a Commissioner, he shall be entitled to a fee of ten
dollars in full for his services in each case, upon the delivery
of the said certificate to the claimant, his or her agent or
attorney; or a fee of five dollars in cases where proof shall
not, in the opinion of said Commissioner, warrant such
certificate and delivery, inclusive of all services incident to
such arrest and examination, to be paid in either case, by the
claimant, his or her agent or attorney. The person or persons
authorized to execute the process to be issued by such
Commissioners for the arrest and detention of fugitives from
service or labor, as aforesaid, shall also be entitled to a fee
of five dollars each for each person he or they may arrest and
take before any such Commissioners, as aforesaid, at the
instance and request of such claimant, with such other fees as
may be deemed reasonable by such Commissioner for such other
additional services as may be necessarily performed by him or
them; such as attending to the examination, keeping the fugitive
in custody, and providing him with food and lodgings during his
detention, and until the final determination of such
Commissioner; and in general for performing such other duties as
may be required by such claimant, his or her attorney or agent
or commissioner in the premises; such fees to be made up in
conformity with the fees usually charged by the officers of the
courts of justice within the proper district or county as far as
may be practicable, and paid by such claimants, their agents or
attorneys, whether such supposed fugitive from service or labor
be ordered to be delivered to such claimants by the final
determination of such Commissioners or not.
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That upon affidavit made by
the claimant of such fugitive, his agent or attorney, after such
certificate has been issued, that he has reason to apprehend
that such fugitive will be rescued by force from his or their
possession before he can be taken beyond the limits of the State
in which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty of the officer
making the arrest to retain such fugitive in his custody, and to
remove him to the State whence he fled, and there to deliver him
to said claimant, his agent or attorney. And to this end the
officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to employ so
many persons as he may deem necessary, to overcome such force,
and to retain them in his service so long as circumstances may
require; the said officer and his assistants, while so employed,
to receive the same compensation, and to be allowed the same
expenses as are now allowed by law for the transportation of
criminals, to be certified by the judge of the district within
which the arrest is made, and paid out of the treasury of the
United States.
SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That when any person held to
service or labor in any State or Territory, or in the District
of Columbia, shall escape therefrom, the party to whom such
service or labor shall be due, his, her, or their agent, or
attorney may apply to any court of record therein, or judge
thereof in vacation, and make such satisfactory proof to such
court or judge in vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that
the person escaping owed service or labor to such party.
Thereupon the court shall cause a record to be made of the
matters so proved, and also a personal description of the person
so escaping, with such convenient certainty as may be; and a
transcript of such record, authenticated by the attestation of
the clerk, and of the seal of said court being produced in any
other State, Territory or District in which the person so
escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any judge,
commissioner, or other officer authorized by the law of the
United States to cause persons escaping from, service or labor
to be delivered up, shall be held and taken to be full and
conclusive evidence of the fact of escape, and that the service
or labor of the person escaping is due to the party in such
record mentioned. And upon the production, by the said party, of
other and further evidence, if necessary, either oral or by
affidavit, in addition to what is contained in said record of
the identity of the person escaping, he or she shall be
delivered up to the claimant. And said court, commissioners,
judge, or other persons authorized by this act to grant
certificates to claimants of fugitives, shall, upon the
production of the record and other evidence aforesaid, grant to
such claimant a certificate of his right to take any such
person, identified and proved to be owing service or labor as
aforesaid, which certificate shall authorize such claimant to
seize, or arrest, and transport such person to the State or
Territory from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing herein
contained shall be construed as requiring the production of a
transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid, but in its
absence, the claim shall be heard and determined upon other
satisfactory proofs competent in law.
* * * * *
THE SLAVE-HUNTING TRAGEDY IN LANCASTER COUNTY, IN SEPTEMBER, 1851.
"TREASON AT CHRISTIANA."
Having inserted the Fugitive Slave Bill in these records of the
Underground Rail Road, one or two slave cases will doubtless suffice to
illustrate the effect of its passage on the public mind, and the colored
people in particular. The deepest feelings of loathing, contempt and
opposition were manifested by the opponents of Slavery on every hand.
Anti-slavery papers, lecturers, preachers, etc., arrayed themselves
boldly against it on the ground of its inhumanity and violation of the
laws of God.
On the other hand, the slave-holders South, and their pro-slavery
adherents in the North demanded the most abject obedience from all
parties, regardless of conscience or obligation to God. In order to
compel such obedience, as well as to prove the practicability of the
law, unbounded zeal daily marked the attempt on the part of
slave-holders and slave-catchers to refasten the fetters on the limbs of
fugitives in different parts of the North, whither they had escaped.
In this dark hour, when colored men's rights were so insecure, as a
matter of self-defence, they felt called upon to arm themselves and
resist all kidnapping intruders, although clothed with the authority of
wicked law. Among the most exciting cases tending to justify this
course, the following may be named:
James Hamlet was the first slave case who was summarily arrested under
the Fugitive Slave Law, and sent back to bondage from New York.
William and Ellen Craft were hotly pursued to Boston by hunters from
Georgia.
Adam Gibson, a free colored man, residing in Philadelphia, was arrested,
delivered into the hands of his alleged claimants, by commissioner
Edward D. Ingraham, and hurried into Slavery.
Euphemia Williams (the mother of six living children),--her case excited
much interest and sympathy.
Shadrach was arrested and rescued in Boston.
Hannah Dellum and her child were returned to Slavery from Philadelphia.
Thomas Hall and his wife were pounced upon at midnight in Chester
county, beaten and dragged off to Slavery, etc.
And, as if gloating over their repeated successes, and utterly
regardless of all caution, about one year after the passage of this
nefarious bill, a party of slave-hunters arranged for a grand capture at
Christiana.
One year from the passage of the law, at a time when alarm and
excitement were running high, the most decided stand was taken at
Christiana, in the State of Pennsylvania, to defeat the law, and defend
freedom. Fortunately for the fugitives the plans of the slave-hunters
and officials leaked out while arrangements were making in Philadelphia
for the capture, and, information being sent to the Anti-slavery office,
a messenger was at once dispatched to Christiana to put all persons
supposed to be in danger on their guard.