The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-31 00:00:00

vEIV-S PAPE

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SLAVE .11UNTING:YrY ' IND-14
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A: correspondent of the- New York 2r24 '' . -,-- - '''Z
Allow me to lay before your readers briefly-th- s'''e yam",
a very remarkable fugitive case .which has4estecloked re-47,'"`S'
the capital of our state. The name of the-alle
is ged Iggi• s, .',
Ai . 4 .11.
tive is " West," or `rWestonWeston„and his claimant or •
Austin W. Vallandingham, of Frankfort, Kentucky.
The negro left Kentucky four or five years ago, having 'r
escaped from the service of his master while hired out by
hian as a fireman on a steamboat, which repeatedly landed
on the Indiana and Idinois side of the river, and I y
which he insisted he 'became free. He finally took rp •
has abode at Naples, in Illinois, and was caught there-
by one Elis, as the agent of the claimant, assisted by
George Vallandinghana, his son. They put him in irons,
and brought him through Indianopolis on their way
south, when the coloured people procured counsel and
took them, on habeas corpus, before Judge Wallace, of
the Marion Common Pleas, who discharged the negro
because his captors bad no certificate. for his removal,
obtained from a competent officer, on proof first made
that he owed service and had escaped, as required by
the act of Congress of 1850. He was immediately
arrested by the Marshal on a warrant issued by Corn.
missioner Rea, upon the affidavit of the said Ellis, and
taken before the Commissioner for the bearing of the
case. The counsel for the negro (Messrs. Ellsworth and '
Colby, Cobern, and George W. Julian), moved to quash '
the warrant, because the affidavit did not show that the
fugitive, at the date of the alleged offence, was the
slave of his claimant, and because the power of '
attorney under which the agent acted was not authenti-
cated according to the fugitive slave law. These objec-
tions clearly entitled the negro to his discharge from- •
custody, but the Commissioner overruled the motion,
and declared that he would feel bound to .hear the case,
as the fugitive and his claimant were both present, if
there were no legal papers on file.
The counsel for the negro then filed an affidavit made
by him that be was a free man, by landing on the soil, :
•with his master's consent ; that he had never returned
to his service, and that he could prove these facts if a
reasonable time were given him to procure his testimony
on the Ohio river, giving the names of his witnesses.
The Commissioner refused the continuance declaring
that this fugitive bad no right under the law of 1850 to •
any evidence on his behalf, and that hie -duty was to bear
the case in an ex parte and summary way on the claim
of the master. The poor fellow was then forced into
trial. The claimant bad been sent for and was present.
He swore that the negro was his slave; that he bought
him in -:840 of the Graham e4ate, and took a bill
of sale' at him, which he bad left at home, that he had
owined him ever since his purchase, &c. The counsel for
Anleoobjected
.1-4) .his testimony tbn. bill ofsalenet,., . , . ..
ldeklArstherallitisisbasof ‘batlisYZ,-.- .
g pe
Commissioner overruled 'ttie objection, and .pekiiiittecr ''''' - '' ---' -,.: '
h:m, his eon, Mr. Ellis, and two other witnesses, to. T'
retail any amount of hearsay and secondary evidence,
much of it being mere rumour and neighbourhood tra- !
dition, tbui trampling down the well-settled rules by .
which courts are guided 'in the investigation of °antics- ' :
verted facts. The evidence, however, disclosed the fact '
that the negra had landed on free territory with his
matter's consent ;.and excluding what was palpably in-
adrbiesible there was 'not sufficient proof to have war-
ranted anyjostice of the Peace in Indiana in rendering
juderipeet for the recovery of a mule in replevin, or his -
valit e in an action oUtrover.
But the C enrnissioner made out his certificate for the
removal of 'lCis'vietinee'agd Armed the claimant with a
posse to guard higiatepon 'which a habeas corpus was --.
served upon 'the Marshal, requiring him to have the
fugitive before Judgeg . Wallace to show by
what authority ho restrained him of his liberty. ..
The substance of the- Marshal's return was that
ho 'held him by virtue of the certificate of the Cern-
rnisai finer for his removal as a fugitive from the service •
and labour of the claimant. The negro answered under
oath, denying all the material facts set forth in the cer- .
tifieate of the Commissibuir,"- and
.drug, as his counsel
supposed,: Laming' the Cleniaantaipori 'the proof of them
before t'ho'State Judge ; hat he (Jeage Wallace) decided '
that, whatever` the'ecifidhat.of the Cemmissioner might '
ha e been, he could not 0 -behind his certificate, and
:'the the Ststtrtittet no power to protect-anyone thus -
vill non victimiseat. 'flitch*, takeeecetching ip,lndiana,
an, so egfleld A Cl96:lll.l34claSteet abonte IO day e. pro-
ducing aiateu,see.exieement during it? pantipuance, _sec d
thr ,ateting ht -tunes. to e;fin
,ripen revolt against tEta
corestituted authorities. " 7 ' ..
e .. ..
' 4 He4flnuarleiger wlti alie pEOple of Inc:liaise ilia of the Tm
Free Staies tatnalfsubmit to a law which tolerates and 7 '
encourages liiich-thatili;eee-lii7--have deisceihicll-7-"Hosv -
muhle 'longer Acill 'Oa e' Republica =editors anti' 'PAW- ‘,
ciaas deal alletheiteilenianciatialf itiankiticatia.
vies, wheneelbe . Birder al gtdater Vlllanite,arr being - r
enacted on' 6'4 :171w nAbbeciehil, ..47.3". ." , ~.:
::*ra " .• 'IP "7 t'' ` - ,-. 'z. ; i...' t:
! .;,:.•;‘,.7`,...: A. * , * A.-", ,a 1 e i*t 'A. , : **6 A. •-• e ',',.' ' , -t
itETIREMENT OF MR. JUSTICE CB
•El.tSWELEYeater- • 4
dayi a noticeslaval itinithit:,"d Aslbe 341.1gestiettinilbers that •
Mr Justice Cresewefl would attend toatransact. business ''s '
on riday next.' .In a short titne..Nist lorclahip wilt retire ''i .
frort,
the Comet of Commgaeljtseitieetake his seat in the '• '
r • -
nee Prolisteeaurt. ...,e,' 1 ',..1*
~,,:i
late LATE FATAL Ad' '-:*.Nieest Twestie&-Vhe .
adjlurried incigetOitin the elaie 7se'of the seetairsonga, . ;
killed by the exploei(4,9filieseleei er of A -7
' e Unitas ~-(- )
chisrillt
ing-Imachiron the farm ioremisec, et r. itidgkl, of ti
Thlrn, moor-ends, near Thorne, Yorkshire, on thallajaee,
ulat was resumed at the White Hart Inn, at that taw
as
on Tr-dity ',,f3incet the last inquiry, anethe# of-leir.,. . i .:
it wrtlit'swiv ilfeeire lied -ttliikitrictimelittWbtilpin-4-1,
4
cujurieglitreetAliti at the accidint: A. thml. ton, named • /
Thomas, aged 8 years, was also much injured, but he is
recovering, All the bodies of the perroes killed were
dreadfuly mutilated, especially that of Henry Ridgill,
who was shockingly scalded from the head to the abdo-
men, he having stood facing the side of the engine when
the explosion occurred. He was bl iwn 24 yards from
the spot, and not 1.5 yards, hi stated in the last re-
port. The jury having been formally resworn, so as to
inclnie the case of II •nry Ridgill in the present investi-
gation, the former evidence was read over, and the fol.
lowing additional facts were elicited :--The witness Fox,
weo et the last inquiry explained the state of the engine,
just before the explosion took place, now said that there
was very little water in the engine, and that the steam
was blowing off, but not much could escape owing to the
safe'y-valve being too tightly screwed down. George
Wright, farm labourer of Tuorne, who had lived with
the deceased proprietor of the thrashing-machine (John-
eon) five years, but had left his service about three weeks
before the accident, said the latter always considered
hinasel competent to manage the engine, but he (witness)
did not. Johnson used to drive the engine at random,
and sometimes put more pressure on than the index could
indicate. Wituess bad sag the deceased tie a piece of
stick to the valve, to act as a lever, so as to obtain more
pressure. Witness used to remonstrate with him for
dein; this, but deceased al ways insisted that he knew
better how to work the engine than witness did. There
was a water-gauge on the engine, but it had got stopped
up nod did not act. The fireber was repaired about
last harvest, and nine new tub is wi r, put in the boiler.
Mr. Isaac Dodds, engineer at the Ilelmes Works, Ro.
theram, said be had examined the remains ofthe exploded
boiler. The casing which enclo •ed the firebox appeared
to be the part torn off by the exploslor. The firebox
itselt sae in good sound condition, and the outside plate
was perfectly sound—it was a quarter of an inch thick.
The boiler, firebox, and tubes appeared to have been in
excellent working condition, and were little worse for
wear. There was no sign of leakage ; the iron was very
good, and the boiler altogether was very creditably made.
The safety-valve was small, but the witness did not think
if it had been larger that the accident would have been
prevented. The evidence of the previous witnesses quite
confirmed the opinion he bad formed on examining the
boiler, which was that the accident arose entirely from
an excess of pressure. Before be heard the evidence
he ha I arrived at the conclusion that the safety-valve
must have been sticking, or have been purposely fastened
down. Judging from the perfect state of the fire-
box and the plate at the top of it, he did not consider
that the accident arose from overheating ; there was
evidently water in the boiler at the time of the accident..
I was impossible to say what amount of pressure there
was on at the time of the accident, because the safety-
valve was screwed down to such an extent that it no
longer deserved the name it bore. This class of engine
generally exploded either at starting or at the first letting
off of steam, for when the engine was not working the
water was more at rest than when there was an escape
of steam, and consequently the instant the steam was
turned on the water became agitated, a greater genera-
tion of steam was produced, and a sort of recoil occurred
at the place where the steam was impeded in its escape.
The present stn le of engine was as good as could be pro-
duced. This particular engine was well made, but it
had been seriously neglected. A safer engine could be
produced if the maker was not limited to weight. The
accident vim occasioned by mismanagement. The
management of high-pressure engines is now so simple
that it can be understood by almost anybody, and no
doubt Johnson thought he knew sufficiently well how to
work his, but unfortunately he did not, and hence this
accident. The best way to avoid such calamities was to
employ competent persons periodically to inspect the
boilers, sad never to trust the machines to incompetent
hands. In answer to questions from the jury, Mr. Dodds
said he did not think it wise to move an engine when the
steam was up, as was done in this case, although if there
was no excess of pressure it might not do much harm.
It would be well to let the persons who examined these
engines also examine the persons who had the manage-
ment of them, and he would recommend that these
engines should have their full complement of fittings—
such as water-guages, &c., it being unsafe to trust to
guage-taps alone, for they could not be depended upon.
He also recommended the use of auxiliary safety-valves
which cadd not be tampered with, ordinary valves being
provided for the use of the driver, and a fixed one which
should be beyond his nmtrol.. The coroner (Mr, W.
Marra tt), in summing up the evidence,
said said it was
a gnestion whether the attention of the Legislature
ought, not to be directed to these accidents with steam-
engines, view
as the iuspectiou of
ree
utioretnhcee adoption of some meacs of
boilers, the existence of the full complement of fittings,
and the competency of the persons intrusted with en•
gives. The jury then retired, and after a short con-
eultetion returned the following verdict :--" We find
that the deceased, Thomas Johnson, Frederick Maud,
Christopher Ridgill, and Henry Ridgill were accidentally
killed by the explosion of the boiler of a steam thrashing
machine, caused by undue pressure resulting from the
incompetency and mismanagement of the said Thomas
Johneoni deceased. And the jury suggest to the coroner
that be should represent to the Secretary of State and
other authorities the necessity of Government or other
inspectors being appointed to institute periodical inspec-
tions of agricultural steam thrashing machines and the
competency of their attendants." The coroner promised
to comply with this request as soon as possible and the
proceedings then terminated

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