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 officer 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 magistracy 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
whence he or she may have escaped as aforesaid. In no trial or
hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged
fugitive be admitted in evidence; and the certificates in this
and the first [fourth] section mentioned, shall be conclusive
of the right of the person or persons in whose favor granted,
to remove such fugitive to the State or Territory from which
he escaped, and shall prevent all molestation of such person
or persons by any process issued by any court, judge,
magistrate, or other person whomsoever.
{3390}