s of the
District. The argument consumed not less than three days. Many points
were discussed; but that on which the cases turned was the definition of
larceny. It resulted in the allowance of several of my bills of
exceptions, the overturn of the law of Judge Crawford on the subject of
larceny, and the establishment by the Circuit Court of the doctrine on
that subject contended for by my counsel; but from this opinion Judge
Dunlap dissented. The case of Sayres, for want of time, was postponed
till the next term.

A new trial having been ordered in my two cases, everybody supposed that
the charge of larceny would now be abandoned, as the Circuit Court had
taken away the only basis on which it could possibly rest. But the zeal
of the District Attorney was not yet satisfied; and, no longer trusting
to his own unassisted efforts, he obtained (at the expense of the United
States) the assistance of Richard Cox, Esq., an old and very
unscrupulous practitioner, with whose aid he tried the cases over again
in the Criminal Court. The two trials lasted about fourteen days. I was
again defended by Messrs. Mann and Carlisle, and now with better
success, as the juries, under the instructions which Judge Crawford
found himself obliged to give, and notwithstanding the desperate efforts
against me, acquitted me in both cases, almost without leaving their
seats.

Finally, the District Attorney agreed to abandon the remaining larceny
cases, if we would consent to verdicts in the transportation cases on
the same terms with those in the case of Sayres. This was done; when
Judge Crawford had the satisfaction of sentencing me to fines and costs
amounting together to ten thousand and sixty dollars, and to remain in
prison until that amount was paid.

There was still a further hearing before the Circuit Court on the bills
of exceptions to these transportation indictments. My counsel thought
they had some good legal objections; but the hearing unfortunately came
on when Judge Cranch was absent from the bench, and the other two judges
overruled them. By a strange construction of the laws, no criminal case,
except by accident, can be carried before the Supreme Court of the
United States; otherwise, the cases against us would have been taken
there, including the question of the legality of slavery in the District
of Columbia.

Thus, after a severe and expensive struggle, I was saved from the
penitentiary; but Sayres and myself remained in the