Levi Woodbury

“ On turning to the counts, however, it will be seen that they allege the residence of the plaintiff in Kentucky,-the ownership by him of these slaves, held to labor there,-and their 'unlawfully,' and 'without his consent,' going from that place to Ohio, as 'fugitives from labor.' All these allegations combined, and not merely the going away, are a clear and sufficient averment of an escape of the slave Andrew under the first objection in arrest. If they contain sufficient matter to show an escape, it need not be alleged in the very words, ipsissimis verbis, of the statute. ”

“ But in relation to inhabitants of other States, if they escape into the limits of States within the ordinance, and if the constitution allow them, when fugitives from labor, to be reclaimed, this does not interfere with their own laws as to their own people, nor do acts of Congress interfere with them, which are rightfully passed to carry these constitutional rights into effect there, as fully as in other portions of the Union. ”

“ Any other construction would go, likewise, beyond the evil to be avoided by the notice, which was the punishment of an individual for harbouring or concealing a person, without having reasonable grounds to believe he was thereby injuring another.
Any other construction, too, would be suicidal to the law itself, as before a notice in writing could be prepared and served on the defendant, the fugitives would be carried beyond the reach of recovery in many cases, and in others would have passed into unknown hands. ”

“ That such notice, if not in writing and served as aforesaid, may be given verbally by the claimant or his agent, to the person who harbours or conceals the fugitive, and that to charge him under the statute, a general notice to the public in a newspaper is not necessary.
3d. That clear proof of the knowledge of the defendant, by his own confession or otherwise, that he knew the colored person was a slave and fugitive from labor, though he may have acquired such knowledge from the slave himself, or otherwise, is sufficient to charge him with notice. ”

“ Whether receiving the fugitive from labor at three o'clock in the morning, at a place in the State of Ohio about twelve miles distant from the place in Kentucky where the fugitive was held to labor, from a certain individual, and transporting him in a closely covered wagon twelve or fourteen miles, so that the boy thereby escaped pursuit, and his services were thereby lost to his master, is not a harbouring or concealing of the fugitive within the statute. ”

“ The court erred in charging the jury that it was not necessary to prove that the defendant intentionally placed the colored persons in question out of view, for the purpose of eluding the search of the master or his agent, in order to establish the fact of concealment, or to prove that he received, sheltered, and placed them out of view for said purpose, in order to establish the fact of harbouring ”

“ The former is, that 'No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.'-Art. ”

“ The answer to the sixth is involved in that to the fourth and fifth; as is an answer to the seventh in that to the first question. Because, if the notice need not come from the claimant himself, nor be in writing, it need not be preceded or accompanied by a claim, which is the seventh inquiry. ”

“ The wagon horses were then whipped, running against Hargrave's horse, which threw him off. The horses were driven in a run some two hundred yards, but at length were overtaken by the witness, who, seizing the reins of the horses, drew them up into a corner of a fence. The driver jumped off and ran some distance; Van Zandt, the defendant, then came out of the wagon, and took the lines, but the witness refused to let the horses proceed. Eight negroes were in the wagon; one of them, called Jackson, and Andrew, the driver, escaped ”

“ These show this offence to consist often in assistance to escape, and reach speedily some distant place, where the master cannot find or reclaim such fugitives, rather than in detaining them long in the neighbourhood, or secreting them about one's premises. ”

“ For that purpose, in conformity to what is understood to have been the usage in the circuits, they accommodated the parties by letting a division pro form a be entered on all the points presented. [1]
It is not understood that any of them embrace things urged merely as reasons for a new trial. ”

“ That the said act, so far as it applies to the case made in the plaintiff's declaration, is repugnant to the sixth article of the ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, and therefore, so far, null and void.
4. In other respects.
II. Because the verdict rendered by the jury is general, whereas it ought to have been confined to the good count, or counts, in said declaration. ”