The dismissal without proper authority of seven fugitives from the custody of their captors at Sandusky, Ohio, by Mr. Rush R. Sloane, a lawyer of that city, led to the institution of two suits against him by Mr. L. F. Weimer, the claimant of three of the slaves. The suits were tried before the District Court of the United States at Columbus, Ohio, in 1854, and a verdict for $3,000 and costs was returned in favor of the slaveholder. The costs amounted to $330.30, and the defendant had also to pay $1,000 in attorneys' fees. Some friends of Mr. Sloane in Sandusky formed a committee and collected $393, an amount sufficient to pay the court and marshal's costs, but the judgment and the other expenses were borne by the defendant individually.[812] [812] 6 _McLean's Reports_, 259-273. Mr. Sloane's account of the case will be found in _The Firelands Pioneer_ for July, 1888, pp. 46-49. A copy of the certificate of the clerk of court there given is here reproduced:-- "Louis F. Weimer _vs._ Rush R. Sloane. United States District of Ohio, in debt. OCTOBER TERM, 1854. Judgment for Plaintiff for $3000 and costs. Received July 8th, 1856, of Rush R. Sloane, the above Defendant, a receipt of Louis F. Weimer, the above Plaintiff, bearing date Dec. 14th, 1854, for $3000, acknowledging full satisfaction of the above judgment, except the costs; also a receipt of L. F. Weimer, Sr., per Joseph Doniphan, attorney, for $85, the amount of Plaintiff's witness fees in said case; also certificates of Defendant's witnesses in above case for $162; also $20 in money, the attorney's docket fees attached, which, with the clerk and marshal's fees heretofore paid, is in full of the costs in said case. (Signed) WILLIAM MINER, _Clerk_." The burden of the penalty, of which, as we have just seen, a small fraction was assumed by sympathizers with the offender in the case of Mr. Sloane, was altogether removed by friendly contributors in the case of another citizen of Sandusky. Two negroes from Kentucky, who were being cared for at the house of Mr. F. D. Parish, were protected from arrest by their benefactor in February, 1845. As Parish was a fearless agent of the Underground Road, the fugitives were not seen afterwards in northern Ohio. The result was that Parish was required to undergo three trials, and in the last, in 1849, the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Ohio fined him $500, the estimated value of the slaves at the time. This sum, together with the costs and expenses, amounting to as much more, was paid by friends of Mr. Parish, who made up the necessary amount by subscriptions of one dollar each.[813]