Phenix Gazette

An important trial was recently held in the U. S. District Court at Philadelphia before Judges Baldwin and Hopkinson, in which were involved some interesting questions touching runaway slaves. The case is reported in the Pennsylvanian of Saturday.

It arose out of the seizure, in 1822, of a runaway slave in the State of Pennsylvania, by his owner from New Jersey, without a warrant. The owner took the runaway by force from his place of service, and had put him in a wagon, when the person in whose service the slave at the time was employed, with the assistance of his neighbors, assaulted the owner (Mr. C. Johnson) and his party, released the slave, and after having wounded Mr. J. seriously in the scuffle, took him and his friends prisoners, to jail, and had him indicted for felony before the County Court, at which he was tried and acquitted.

The present suit was brought under the act of Congress by Mr. Johnson, against one Kinder, with whom the runaway was residing, and who had been active in the attacks. The damages were laid at $10,000.

Judge Baldwin charged decidedly in favor of the Plaintiff, and his remarks are quoted as "a striking commentary upon the recklessness of those who assert that the North is interfering with the peculiar property of the South." He expressly directed the Jury "that a master has the right of arresting his slave, without a warrant and carrying him before any competent tribunal, in order to prove his property; that he is not required to answer the questions of any one, except those of the legal magistrates, and that parol evidence is sufficient to show the validity of his claims in the absence of a bill of sale."

The Jury found for the plaintiff—four thousand dollars damages.—Balt. Amer.