The counsel for the claimant said a newspaper was not legal evidence of the existence of a law. Friend Hopper replied, "The court is well aware that I am no lawyer. But I have heard lawyers talk about _prima facie_ evidence; and I should suppose the National Intelligencer amounted at least to that sort of evidence, for it is the acknowledged organ of government, in which the laws are published for the information of citizens. But if that is not satisfactory, I presume the court will detain the man until an authenticated copy of the law can be obtained." After some discussion, the court ordered a copy of the law to be procured; but the attorney abandoned the case, and the slave was set at liberty. As soon as this decision was announced, the throng of spectators, white and colored, began to shout, "Hurra for Mr. Hopper!" The populace were so accustomed to see him come off victorious from such contests, that they began to consider his judgment infallible. Many years afterward, when Friend Hopper met Mahlon Dickinson on board a steam-boat, he inquired whether he recollected the scolding he gave him on a certain occasion. He replied pleasantly, "Indeed I do. I thought I _had_ you that time, and I intended to give it to you; but you slipped through my fingers, as usual." THE NEW-JERSEY SLAVE. In the year 1809, a gentleman from East New-Jersey visited Philadelphia, and brought a young slave to wait upon him. When they had been in that city four or five months, the lad called upon Isaac T. Hopper to inquire whether his residence in Philadelphia had made him free. He was informed that he would not have a legal claim to freedom till he had been there six months. Just as the term expired, somebody told the master that the laws of Pennsylvania conferred freedom on slaves under such circumstances. He had been ignorant of the fact, or had forgotten it, and as soon as he received the information he became alarmed lest he should lose his locomotive property. He sent for a constable, who came to his door with a carriage. The lad had just come up from the cellar with an armful of wood. When he entered the parlor, the constable ordered him to put it down and go with him. He threw the wood directly at the legs of the officer, and ran down cellar full speed, slamming the door after him. As soon as the constable could recover from the blow he had received, he followed the lad into the cellar; but he had escaped by another door, and gone to Isaac T. Hopper.