"AN ACT RESPECTING FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICE, AND PERSONS ESCAPING FROM THE
SERVICE OF THEIR MASTERS."
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled:
That the persons who have been, or may hereafter be appointed
commissioners, in virtue of any Act of Congress, by the circuit
courts of the United States, and who, in consequence of such
appointment, are authorized to exercise the powers that any
justice of the peace or other magistrate of any of the United
States, may exercise in respect to offenders for any crime or
offence against the United States, by arresting, imprisoning, or
bailing the same under and by virtue of the thirty-third section
of the act of the twenty-fourth of September, seventeen hundred
and eighty-nine, entitled, "An act to establish the judicial
courts of the United States," shall be, and are hereby
authorized and required to exercise and discharge all the powers
and duties conferred by this act.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted: That the superior court of
each organized territory of the United States, shall have the
same power to appoint commissioners to take acknowledgments of
bail and affidavit, and to take depositions of witnesses in
civil causes, which is now possessed by the circuit courts of
the United States, and all commissioners, who shall hereafter be
appointed for such purposes, by the superior court of any
organized territory of the United States, shall possess all the
powers, and exercise all the duties conferred by law, upon the
commissioners appointed by the circuit courts of the United
States for similar purposes, and shall, moreover, exercise and
discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this act.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted: That the circuit courts of
the United States, and the superior courts of each organized
territory of the United States, shall, from time to time,
enlarge the number of Commissioners, with a view to afford
reasonable facilities to reclaim fugitives from labor, and to
the prompt discharge of the duties imposed by this act.
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, that the commissioners above
named, shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the judges of the
circuit and district courts of the United States, in their
respective circuits and districts within the several States, and
the judges of the superior courts of the Territories severally
and collectively, in term time and vacation; and shall grant
certificates to such claimants, upon satisfactory proof being
made, with authority to take and remove such fugitives from
service or labor, under the restrictions herein contained, to
the State or territory from which such persons may have escaped
or fled.
SEC. 5. And be it further enacted: That it shall be the duty of
all marshals and deputy marshals, to obey and execute all
warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of this act,
when to them directed; and should any marshal or deputy marshal
refuse to receive such warrant or other process when tendered,
or to use all proper means diligently to execute the same, he
shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one
thousand dollars to the use of such claimant, on the motion of
such claimant by the circuit or district court for the district
of such marshal; and after arrest of such fugitive by the
marshal, or his deputy, or whilst at any time in his custody,
under the provisions of this act, should such fugitive escape,
whether with or without the assent of such marshal or his
deputy, such marshal shall be liable, on his official bond, to
be prosecuted, for the benefit of such claimant, for the full
value of the service or labor of said fugitive in the State,
Territory or district whence he escaped; and the better to
enable the said commissioners, when thus appointed, to execute
their duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with the
requirements of the Constitution of the United States, and of
this act, they are hereby authorized and empowered, within their
counties respectively, to appoint in writing under their hands,
any one or more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute
all such warrants and other process as may be issued by them in
the lawful performance of their respective duties, with an
authority to such commissioners, or the persons to be appointed
by them, to execute process as aforesaid, to summon and call to
their aid the bystanders or posse comitatus, of the proper
county, when necessary to insure a faithful observance of the
clause of the Constitution referred to, in conformity with the
provisions of this act; and all good citizens are hereby
commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient
execution of this law, whenever their services may be required,
as aforesaid, for that purpose; and said warrants shall run and
be executed by said officers anywhere in the State within which
they are issued.
SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That when a person held to
service or labor in any State or Territory of the United States,
has heretofore, or shall hereafter escape into another State or
Territory of the United States, the person or persons to whom
such service or labor may be due, or his, her or their agent or
attorney, duly authorized, by power of attorney, in writing,
acknowledged and certified under the seal of some legal office
or court of the State or Territory, in which the same may be
executed, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, either by
procuring a warrant from some one of the courts, judges, or
commissioners aforesaid, of the proper circuit, district or
county, for the apprehension of such fugitive from service or
labor, or by seizing and arresting such fugitive, where the same
can be done without process, and by taking, or causing such
person to be taken, forthwith, before such court, judge or
commissioner, whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the
case of such claimant in a summary manner, and upon satisfactory
proof being made, by deposition or affidavit, in writing, to be
taken and certified by such court, judge or commissioner, or by
other satisfactory testimony, duly taken and certified by some
court, magistrate, justice of the peace, or other legal officer
authorized to administer an oath and take depositions under the
laws of the State or Territory from which such person owing
service or labor may have escaped, with a certificate of such
magistrate, or other authority, as aforesaid, with the seal of
the proper court or officer thereto attached, which seal shall
be sufficient to establish the competency of the proof, and with
proof also, by affidavit, of the identity of the person whose
service or labor is claimed to be due, as aforesaid, that the
person so arrested does in fact owe service or labor to the
person or persons claiming him or her, in the State or Territory
from which such fugitive may have escaped, as aforesaid, and
that said person escaped, to make out and deliver to such
claimant, his or her agent or attorney, a certificate setting
forth the substantial facts as to the service or labor due from
such fugitive to the claimant, and of his or her escape from the
State or Territory in which such service or labor was due, to
the State or Territory, in which he or she was arrested, with
authority to such claimant, or his or her agent or attorney, to
use such reasonable force and restraint as may be necessary,
under the circumstances of the case, to take and remove such
fugitive person back to the State or Territory from whence he or
she may have escaped, as aforesaid. In no trial or hearing,
under this act, shall the testimony of such alleged fugitives be
admitted in evidence, and the certificates in this and the first
section mentioned, shall be conclusive of the right of the
person or persons in whose favor granted to remove such
fugitives to the State or Territory from which they escaped, and
shall prevent all molestation of said person or persons by any
process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person
whomsoever.
SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall
knowingly and willfully obstruct, hinder, or prevent such
claimant, his agent, or attorney, or any person or persons
lawfully assisting him, her or them from arresting such a
fugitive from service or labor, either with or without process,
as aforesaid, or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such
fugitive from service or labor, or from the custody of such
claimant, his or her agent, or attorney, or other person or
persons lawfully assisting, as aforesaid, when so arrested,
pursuant to the authority herein given and declared, or shall
aid, abet, or assist such person, so owing service or labor, as
aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from such claimant,
his agent or attorney, or other person or persons legally
authorized, as aforesaid, or shall harbor or conceal such
fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of such
person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person
was a fugitive from service or labor, as aforesaid, shall, for
either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one
thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by
indictment and conviction before the District Court of the
United States, for the district in which such offence may have
been committed, or before the proper court of criminal
jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized
Territories of the United States; and shall, moreover, forfeit
and pay, by way of civil damages, to the party injured by such
illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand dollars for each
fugitive so lost, as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of
debt in any of the District or Territorial Courts aforesaid,
within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been
committed.
SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the Marshals, their
deputies, and the clerks of the said districts and territorial
courts, shall be paid for their services the like fees as may be
allowed to them for similar services in other cases; and where
such services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, custody,
and delivery of the fugitives to the claimant, his or her agent,
or attorney, or where such supposed fugitive may be discharged
out of custody from the want of sufficient proof, as aforesaid,
then such fees are to be paid in the whole by such complainant,
his agent or attorney, and in all cases where the proceedings
are before a Commissioner, he shall be entitled to a fee of ten
dollars in full for his services in each case, upon the delivery
of the said certificate to the claimant, his or her agent or
attorney; or a fee of five dollars in cases where proof shall
not, in the opinion of said Commissioner, warrant such
certificate and delivery, inclusive of all services incident to
such arrest and examination, to be paid in either case, by the
claimant, his or her agent or attorney. The person or persons
authorized to execute the process to be issued by such
Commissioners for the arrest and detention of fugitives from
service or labor, as aforesaid, shall also be entitled to a fee
of five dollars each for each person he or they may arrest and
take before any such Commissioners, as aforesaid, at the
instance and request of such claimant, with such other fees as
may be deemed reasonable by such Commissioner for such other
additional services as may be necessarily performed by him or
them; such as attending to the examination, keeping the fugitive
in custody, and providing him with food and lodgings during his
detention, and until the final determination of such
Commissioner; and in general for performing such other duties as
may be required by such claimant, his or her attorney or agent
or commissioner in the premises; such fees to be made up in
conformity with the fees usually charged by the officers of the
courts of justice within the proper district or county as far as
may be practicable, and paid by such claimants, their agents or
attorneys, whether such supposed fugitive from service or labor
be ordered to be delivered to such claimants by the final
determination of such Commissioners or not.
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That upon affidavit made by
the claimant of such fugitive, his agent or attorney, after such
certificate has been issued, that he has reason to apprehend
that such fugitive will be rescued by force from his or their
possession before he can be taken beyond the limits of the State
in which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty of the officer
making the arrest to retain such fugitive in his custody, and to
remove him to the State whence he fled, and there to deliver him
to said claimant, his agent or attorney. And to this end the
officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to employ so
many persons as he may deem necessary, to overcome such force,
and to retain them in his service so long as circumstances may
require; the said officer and his assistants, while so employed,
to receive the same compensation, and to be allowed the same
expenses as are now allowed by law for the transportation of
criminals, to be certified by the judge of the district within
which the arrest is made, and paid out of the treasury of the
United States.
SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That when any person held to
service or labor in any State or Territory, or in the District
of Columbia, shall escape therefrom, the party to whom such
service or labor shall be due, his, her, or their agent, or
attorney may apply to any court of record therein, or judge
thereof in vacation, and make such satisfactory proof to such
court or judge in vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that
the person escaping owed service or labor to such party.
Thereupon the court shall cause a record to be made of the
matters so proved, and also a personal description of the person
so escaping, with such convenient certainty as may be; and a
transcript of such record, authenticated by the attestation of
the clerk, and of the seal of said court being produced in any
other State, Territory or District in which the person so
escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any judge,
commissioner, or other officer authorized by the law of the
United States to cause persons escaping from, service or labor
to be delivered up, shall be held and taken to be full and
conclusive evidence of the fact of escape, and that the service
or labor of the person escaping is due to the party in such
record mentioned. And upon the production, by the said party, of
other and further evidence, if necessary, either oral or by
affidavit, in addition to what is contained in said record of
the identity of the person escaping, he or she shall be
delivered up to the claimant. And said court, commissioners,
judge, or other persons authorized by this act to grant
certificates to claimants of fugitives, shall, upon the
production of the record and other evidence aforesaid, grant to
such claimant a certificate of his right to take any such
person, identified and proved to be owing service or labor as
aforesaid, which certificate shall authorize such claimant to
seize, or arrest, and transport such person to the State or
Territory from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing herein
contained shall be construed as requiring the production of a
transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid, but in its
absence, the claim shall be heard and determined upon other
satisfactory proofs competent in law.
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