The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-21 00:00:00

A '1 ItAVELLER.

(Front the New Yor4 Tribune.)
Wilkesbarrt, FL, Sept. 3, 1553.

. .
A most disgraceful ar.d brutal occurrence took place
here this morning, which I shall, take the liberty of
communicating to you, thinking it probable that no other
person here may take the trouble. Being an eye-witness, I
have given nothing bat what you may rely upon as facts.
About 7 o'clock this morning, an attempt was made by a
person calling himself" Deputy Marshal Wynkoop" (a bro-
ther to Col. Wrnkoop), another, answering to the name of
" sloth:akin'," and three other assistants from 'Virginia, to
arrest as a fugitive slave, a coloured waiter in the dining-
room of the Phcenix Hotel in this place. Immediately after
receiving their breakfast at the hands of " Bill," the unsus-
pecting fugitive, who is a tall, noble-looking, remarkably
intelligent and active mulatto, nearly white, they suddenly,
from behind, knocked him down with a mace, and partially
shackled him; but, by a desperate effort and after a
most severe struggle, with the whole five upon him, he
shook them off, and with the aid of his handcuff., which
were only fast upon his right writ, he inflicted some
hard wounds on the countenances of some of the South-
erners, the marks of which they will probably carry to
their graves. But, notwithstanding the fearful odds
against him, he managed to break from their grasp, and,
with the loss of everything upon hint but a part of his
shirt, and covered with blood, ho rushed from the house
and plunged in the river close by, exclaiming, " I will
be drowned rather than taken alive." His pursuers
fired twice at him on hie way to the river without
checking his speed, and, on reaching the bank, they
presented their large revolvers and coiled on the fugi-
tive, who stood up to his neck in the water, to " cone
out and surrender himself, or they would blow his
brains out." He replied, "I will die first." They
then deliberately fired at him four or five different times,
the last ball supposed to have struck on his head, for his
face was instantly covered with blood, and the poor fellow
sprung and shrieked out in agony, and no doubt would
have sunk but for the buoyancy of the water hold-
ing him up. Tl.e people around, who had by this time col-
lected in large numbers, were becoming excited, and could
no longer refrain from crying out " Shame ! shame !" which
had the effect of causing the Southerners to retire a short
distance, in evident consultation. The slave, not seeing his

pursuers, came to the shore ; but not being able to support
himself in the water, he lay down on the edge, completely
exhausted, became senseless, and was supposed to be
dying, on hearing which the slave-catchers remarked,
coolly, that dead niggers were not worth taking
" South." Some one shortly brought a pair of panta-
loons and put on the fugitive, who, in a few minutes,
unexpectedly revived, and was walking off from the
river, partly held up by another coloured man, named
lie:, on seeing which, his pursuers again headed him,
drew and presented their revolvers, and called upon him
to stop, threatening to shoot any one who assisted the
fugitive. The white friends of Rex instantly shouted
"Stand away' stand away, Rex, you'll get shot too?'
This was bad advice, as they would not have dared to shoot
at that time, and it had the effect of encouraging the
pirates, who kept advancing toward the fugitive, and, at
the same time, intimidated lie:, who drew back, exclaim-
ing to the slave, " Put, Bill, to the water again ; don't be
taken alive." The poor fellow, seeing himself alone, for
there was a general drawback on the revolvers being pre-
seated, turned and plunged into the river again, where he
remained upwards of an hour, with nothing above water
but his bead, covered with blood, and in full view of the
hundreds who lined the high banks. His claimants dared
not follow him into the water, for, as he afterwards
remarked, " Ile would have died contented could he
have carried two or three of them down with him." In
the mean time, some of the citizens, thinking there was no
law justifying such barbarity, were taking means to have
the kidnappers arrested. Judge Collins, one of our most
respected citizens, and several others, questioned them as to
their names and authority, to which they replied, " lie was
more like a lunatic than a judge," &c. They loon, how-
ever, saw the sentiment of the community was strong
against them, and drove oil before an officer wand be found

to street them. A telegraphic despatch to the constable it
Buiews caused their deten!its there; but he was over-
'lo by such p oopous U. S. calkers, and they were allowed
to gl szain. After their departure, the fugitive, Meek' to
come out th, to again, waded some distance up stream and
gat out above, and waa found by some coloured women fiat
on kis face lea curls field. The women carried hint off to
,p.Ace dressed his wounds, and at night he will
be fat on his way toward Canada.
Such art he plain, unvarnished facts. Yen cannot over-
state the bifi.drity of the scene, the excitement of the
people, or tha ferocity of the slave-catchers, but, having
rtceLtly klt *tie rigours of the Fugitive Slave Law here,•
then was a meneral fear of the officers, who bullied aad
brow•beat a r one who venture,' to speak above his breath,
tubas*, • rtsionally, "Gentlemen, you can have hint
ILr 1,00.) 4 1: iss! but we are U. S. officers; resist us at
yaw peril."
• • - -

. -
W. felt soaamed of our country, and almost looped to
be in Aust:-..i or Russia, where human rights ate more
Twitted.
'thing in Mrs. Stowe's work equalled this in the bra-
y displ dby this Peonsylvenia marshal and the
Tir: ala sleso•'lunten. !lad some bold spirit led the way,
eit.aeas would have demolished them on the spot. As
it is, the remit has been good. Tin bloodthirsty villains
were " property " escaped (thciagh probably a
cripple f a life, if indeed he does live, for ha was quite
biht headed daring the day), and there has been DIMS
anti-slavery :e.liag elicited, and more hatred to the Fait-
bee Slave Low wowed, than could have been dol.* with
year. 01 lat,lnt I Of addresses

It it rurally supposed that a person here, who has been
tugged is 'he slave-hunting busineu before in this town,
mil now (es he has bees for years) under bonds to keep the
peace, has ; !armed and been at the bAtom of the whole of
it, though since his appointment to a ma,l route Mkt..
Which be wis too ignorant to CI, he has been anxious to
appear a • more rupectsble ; and, in order to blind the
people, rel,st d to assist in the above case when called upon
—is vain attempt, however; the circumstances were too
clear agait.t L:m.—Youn. T. 8.

• A Mr. Macey was arrested and fined rant summer for shielding
a aloe.

trbe Court.

BALMORAL, Strr. 18.
Her Majisty and Prince Albert dined yesterday at
Abageldie with the Duchess of Kent.

A &pestle's from the Commissioners of Customs, eon-
iistag ul a ILight Hon. U. R. Dawson, Via-Chairman of
Customs; Dr. M'Williara, Medical Inspector of Customs;
and Mr. Wiliam Smart, Inspector of the River ; attended
the General Board of Health yesterday, at their offices,
Whitehall, upon an invitation fur • conference on the
MUM of pr.tection practicable to be given to crews and
passespn on any outbreak of epidemics in the ports.

LEICEsTER G,i()L I.VQI:IRY.

The eo:nuainsionere appointed to inquire into the
trrement of prisoners in the Leicester County Prison
opened the commission at the Castle of Leicester on Mon-
day, and t'.ea prnceeded to inspect the prison.
The inquiry commenced on Tuesday morning, and the'
governor of the gaol, Mr. W. Musson, was examined at
considirarc length, and his examination is expected to be
mimed this day (Wednesday.) The chaplain, the Rev.
W. Fox, was also partially examined as to various entries
in his journal, but at the adjournment of the inquiry for
the day his examination was not concluded.
From the examination, as far as it has gone, it appears
that crank !Amr is required to be performed by all pri•
noun sentenced to hard labour ; that adults are required
to perform 14,4C0 revolutions per day, and boys
9,0G0 ; that it bad been customary to appor-
tion those revolutions to various parts of the
day, and the meals of the prisoners were withheld if those
revolutions were not performed. Other punishments in-
flicted is lie prison are confinement in light cells upon
bread and water, in dark cells, and whipping. The strait
waistcoat, straps, and collars were used in caw of insanity
et violence, but only for restraint, and not as punishment.
/dr. Musson, said one of the warders, named Godfrey,
would be aLle to give more information on these subjects
than be cou.d.

The inquiry would be resumed at eleven o'clock this
meraing.