New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1855-11-15
The Case Of Passmore Williamson.

q .' st at
On Saturday morning, the Sd inst, Passmore
Williamson appeared in the United States Dias
trict Court in Philadelphis, accompanied BY
sMessrs. Meredith, Gilpin and Hopper, his ooun-
sci, and offered petition, in which he expressed
his willingness to purge himself Of the contempt
in the Wheeler slave case, for which he was inn
prisoned in July last. Judge Kane received
the petition, granted the prayer and required
Williamson to affirm what he had to say in
reply to the interrogatories Of the Court Ger
tain interrogatories were then propounded to
him by Mr.. Vandyke, the District Attorney, to
which he replied i
Ibid not seek to obey the writ by producing the
persons therein mentioned before the Court. be-
cause had not. ct the time of the service of
the writ, the power over the custody or control
Of them, and therefore it was impossible for me
to do SO. / first heard of the writ of shabeas
corpus on July 90, between l and o'clock A..
M, on my return from Harrisburg After.
breakfast, about 8 o'clock, I went from my house
to Mr.. Hopper's ofhces when and where the re-
turn was prepared. tf4-sg8 Il sts,{ strsp ,s,8at
\ AT 10 o'clock, as Icame into court, commanded
by the writ, sought to obey the writ by an
swering it truly L; the parties not being in my
possession or control, it was impossible for me
to obey the writ by producing them Since the
service Of the writ / have not had the custody,
possession or power over them; nor have
known where they were except from common
runner or the newspaper reports in regard to
their public appearances in the city or elsewhere,
Some discussion arose between the District
Attorney and the counsel of Mr.. Williamson.
Mr.. Vandyke contended that the reply Of the
defendant was evasiye and contradictory The
Judge said the difficulty, he thought, could be
easily overcome by amending the answer, and
at the suggestion Of the Court it was amended
in the following manner: W. s
81 did not seek to obey the writ by producing
the persons in the writ mentioned before this
court l did not SO seek, because verify be-
lieyed that it was entirely impossible for me to
produce the said persons agreeably to the COM
mand Of the court"
8 This answer was then accepted by the court
8 Judge Kane then remarked that the District
Attorney has been invited to aid the court in
this case, but that he would bear in mind that
his relation to Mr.. Wheeler was now suspended.
This was only On enquiry as to what injury had
been done the process of the court.
Mr.. Vandyke said he was aware of the posi-
tion he occupied.
Judge Kane then said" The contempt is
now regarded as purged, and the party is re-
leased from custody. He is now renstated to
the position he occupied before the contempt
was committed. Mr.. Williamson is now hefore
me on the return to the writ
Mr. Vandyke then arose and addressed the
court, stating that noiie pros. had been en-
tered in the case in this court, but that he had,
on behalf Of Mr. Wheeler, entered q suit for
damages in the q. S. Circuit Court Judge
Kane thereupon discharged Williamson from
custody. He was Immediately surrounded and
heartily congratulated by his friends.
BOILER EXPLOSION AND Loss OF LlFE.-The
Savannah Journal gives the following account
Of boiler explosion on the Central Railroad, on
the 9th inst 55@5= sal-
A freight train from Macon had reached two
| miles and half below Station 13, when the
| boiler of the locomotive exploded with fearful
violence. The cause Of the explosion has not.
| as yet, been examined fully, and the death of
those Immediately aware of the facts. renders
| it difficult to ascertain. The locomotive was
thrown forward by the force of the explosion
forty feet in advance of the point where the
boiler burst, and there planted crosswise.
The engineer, named Kelly, IA Pennsylva-
nian, and who had recently come upon the road)
was.instantly killed, as was also the fireman.
An eye witness stated that the body of the en-
gineer was blown literally high into the air,
| and, it is further said, that the dead body Of
the fireman was found upon the rearmost car OF
the train-fearful proofs of the awful violence
of the sudden blow which hurried them into
eternity The brakesman on the tender was
most severely scalded. He was IN a most crln-
cal state at last accounts. His name and that
Of the fireman we have not been able to learn.
| The locomotive is a complete wreck. Ii will
be q considerable loss to the company. but this
is Of little Importance when compared with the
loss of life by 50 sudden and terrible calamity
| A fossilized mammoth tooth of tho Mastodon
Maximus has besn found lately In small creek Cane
mah Oregon. It was perfect when discovered, and
weighed three pounds This is the rst discovery Of the
kind on the Paoihe coast.