who has
no Curtis blood in his veins, did not wish to steal a man; and
proposed to throw up his commission rather than do such a deed; but he
consulted his step-brother, Charles P. Curtis, who persuaded him it
would be dishonorable to decline the office of kidnapping imposed upon
him as a United States Commissioner by the fugitive slave bill.
Benjamin R. Curtis, it is said, I know not how truly--himself can
answer, aided Mr. Loring in forming the "opinion" by which he
attempted to justify the "extradition" of Mr. Burns; that is to say,
the giving him up as a slave without any trial of his right to
liberty, merely on a presumptive case established by his claimant.

17. After Commissioner Loring had seized Mr. Burns, Mr. George T.
Curtis, by a communication published in the newspapers, informed the
public that he still continued the business of man-hunting at the old
stand, where all orders for kidnapping would be promptly attended to.
For, he says, there was a statement "that I had declined, or was
unwilling or afraid to act. I did not choose that any one whatever
should have an excuse for believing that Judge Loring was willing to
sit in a case that I had declined." "I thought proper to place myself
as it were by his side." "But I never took a fee [for kidnapping], and
I never shall take one."[190] Did he remember the fate of the Hebrew
Judas, who "betrayed the Innocent Blood," and then cast down the
thirty pieces?

[Footnote 190: See Boston Journal of May 29, and Boston Courier of
June 7, 1854.]

Hitherto the kidnapping commissioners, though both members of the same
family, had pursued their game separately, each on his own account.
After this it appears these two are to hunt in couples: Commissioner
Loring and Commissioner Curtis "as it were by his side:"--

"Swift in pursuit, but matched in mouth like bells,
_Each under each_."

Gentlemen of the Jury, it is a very painful thing for me to deliver
this very sad chronicle of such wicked deeds. But do not judge these
men wholly by those acts. I am by no means stingy of commendation, and
would rather praise than blame. The two elder Messrs. Curtis have many
estimable and honorable qualities,--in private relations it is
said--and I believe it--they are uncommonly tender and delicate and
refined in the elegant courtesies of common life. I know that they
have often been open-handed and generous in many a charity. In the
ordinary intercourse of society, wher