Report of the Proceedings at the Examination of Charles G. Davis, Esq., on the Charge of Aiding and Abetting in the Rescue of a Fugitive Slave: Held in Boston, in February, 1851.Davis, Charles G. (Charles Gideon)
History
Report of the Proceedings at the Examination of Charles G. Davis, Esq., on the Charge of Aiding and Abetting in the Rescue of a Fugitive Slave: Held in Boston, in February, 1851.
Davis, Charles G. (Charles Gideon)
Davis, Charles G. (Charles Gideon), 1820-1903 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Fugitive slaves -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Massachusetts -- Boston; United States -- Fugitive slave law (1850)
A hearing was had in the U. S. court room, and several papers, being
affidavits and certificates of a record, were exhibited by the
complainant's counsel, as the evidence under the 10th section of the
Fugitive Slave Law so called, that Shadrach was a slave in Virginia,
that he was owned by said De Bree, and that he escaped on the 3d of May,
1850. At the request of counsel these papers were read and admitted as
evidence in the case, subject to such objections as might be made to
their admissibility as legal evidence thereafter.
There were present as counsel for Shadrach, S. E. Sewall, Ellis G.
Loring, Charles G. Davis, and Charles List, and as they had not had an
opportunity to examine the documents produced by the complainant, and
were therefore not satisfied of their sufficiency, they asked for a
postponement, to February 18th, and the commissioner adjourned the
further hearing of the matter until 10 o'clock, on Tuesday, February
18th, and passed the following order:--
United States of America, District of Massachusetts, February 15th,
1851.--And now the hearing of this case being adjourned to Tuesday
the eighteenth day of February instant, at ten o'clock in the
forenoon, the said deputy marshal, who has made return of this
warrant, is hereby ordered to retain the said Shadrach in his
custody, and have him before me at the time last mentioned, at the
court house in Boston, for the further hearing of the complaint on
which this warrant is issued.
GEO. T. CURTIS, Commissioner.
* * * * *
On the following Tuesday, P. Riley, Esq., Deputy U. S. Marshal,
appeared before the Commissioner, George T. Curtis, Esq., and offered
the following return which was annexed to the above order.
BOSTON, Tuesday, February 18th, 1851.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
_Massachusetts District, ss._
I hereby certify, in pursuance of law and the foregoing order, the
said "Shadrach" named in the foregoing warrant and order, was being
detained in my custody in the Court Room of the United States, in
the Court House, in said Boston, when the door of said room, which
was being used as a prison, was forced open by a mob, and the said
"Shadrach" forcibly rescued from my custody. I also annex hereto,
and make part of my return an original [printed] deposition, of the
circumstances attending the arrest and rescue, and have not been
able to retake said Shadrach, and cannot now have him before said
Commissioner for reasons above stated.
P. RILEY, U. S. Deputy Marshal.
* * * * *
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
_Suffolk County._
I, Patrick Riley, of Boston, in the said county, counsellor at law,
having been duly sworn, depose and say, that I am, and have been,
for fourteen years past, the principal deputy of the United States
Marshal for the District of Massachusetts.
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