the claimant. If a fugitive escape from the custody of the
Marshal, the Marshal to be liable for his full value. Commissioners
authorized to appoint special officers, and to call out the _posse
comitatus_, &c.
SECT. 6. The claimant of any fugitive slave, or his attorney, "may
pursue and reclaim such fugitive person," either by procuring a
warrant from some judge or commissioner, "or by seizing and
arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without
process;" to take such fugitive before such judge or commissioner,
"whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the case of such
claimant in a summary manner," and, if satisfied of the identity of
the prisoner, to grant a certificate to said claimant to "remove
such fugitive person back to the State or Territory from whence he
or she may have escaped,"--using "such reasonable force or restraint
as may be necessary under the circumstances of the case." "In no
trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged
fugitive be admitted in evidence." All molestation of the claimant,
in the removal of his slave, "by any process issued by any court,
judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever," to be prevented.
SECT. 7. Any person obstructing the arrest of a fugitive, or
attempting his or her rescue, or aiding him or her to escape, or
harboring and concealing a fugitive, knowing him to be such, shall
be subject to a fine of not exceeding one thousand dollars, and to
be imprisoned not exceeding six months, and shall also "forfeit and
pay the sum of one thousand dollars for each fugitive so _lost_."
SECT. 8. Marshals, deputies, clerks, and special officers to receive
usual fees; Commissioners to receive ten dollars, if fugitive is
given up to claimant; otherwise, five dollars; to be paid by
claimant.
SECT. 9. If claimant make affidavit that he fears a rescue of such
fugitive from his possession, the officer making the arrest to
retain him in custody, and "to remove him to the State whence he
fled." Said officer "to employ so many persons as he may deem
necessary." All, while so employed, be paid out of the Treasury of
the United States.
Sect. 10. [This Section provides an additional and wholly distinct
method for the capture of a fugitive; and, it may be added, one of
the loosest and most extraordinary that ever appeared on the pages
of Statute book.] Any person, from whom one held to service or labor
has escaped, upon making "satisfactory proof" o
|