St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-05-05
The 0berlin RCScuerS.

on Il CIidiS,c VI NioiatiHo tuc L uSi'
Slave Law, by helping an alleged
slave to escape from his captors at
Oberlin, in September last. A man
named Bushnell, one of the Thirty
Seven, was first tried, and although it
was proved conclusivcly that the pro-
cess by which the alleged slave was
taken into custody was informal that
a farmers boy was first hired to de-
coy the colorcd man mile or two
into the country that the arrest was
then made with defective papers, and
in manner such as Would be pursued
by almost any band of lawlcss kid
nappers-the defendant was convicted.
The court was then proceeding to try
the remainder of Bushnell's associates,
before the same Jury who had con-
victcd him, when they declared,
through their counsel, if such an out
raesa-~------ +hay should in
troducc no witnesses and offer no de-
fence that their case would be thus
already prcjudgcd, and their trial
mockery. They surrendered their re-
cognizanccs, and the Court offered to
hold them to bail on their own recog-
nizances. These they refused to give.
They were then offered their liberty
on their word to appear in Court. This,
also, they refused, and were all ac-
cordingly committed to Jail.
The Cleveland Herald says the Jury
who convicted Bushnell and before
whom the other defendants will proba-
bly, be arraigned, are, by some singu-
lar circumstance, all members of the
Democratic party; that one of them
is father of the boy who decoyed the
alleged slave into the hands of the
kidnappers and another a Deputy
Marshal Of tie United States!
The Cleveland Leader remarks:
Nothing seems so wholly to de-
grade man as becoming the tool of
slavc-catchers, officially or otherwise.
The degradation is complete, from the
bench to the bailiff--from the man
thief to the boy-kidnapper. A Jeffreys
Court has its supple instruments, Off
GERS eager to become Government
pursuers, and Marshars posse OF
DULLES and shoulder-hitters has been
sworn in, and daily throng what should
be Temple of Justice
Judge Spaulding, one of the coun
sci for the prisoners, took the cars to
Columbus, to apply to the Supreme
Court Of the State for writ of habeas
corpus. The Ohio State Journal of the
22d ult,, has the following in regard
to the application
"In the Supreme Court yesterday
an application was made by Judge
Spaulding, in behalf of the citizens Of
Lorraine county now confined in the
| jail of Cuyahoga county by order OF
the L. S. District Court for the North
ern District of Ohio, for the writ o!
haJeas corpus.
"In making his application, Mr.. S
remarked that under this proceeding
he proposed to arraign the Congress
sional enactment of 1850 as an excess
of Legislative power, and an innova'
ton upon the sovereign prerogatives
of the State, which alone had power
to regulate by pains and penalties,
the internal police Of the Common
wealth.
"He insisted that this tribunal was
the constitutional guardia an of the per.
sonal liberty of every citizen of Ohio
and, as such, it was peculiarly fit and
proper that it should take cognizance
of any Infringement of this great
right, whether by the Federal Court
or any other power.
"The Court entered rule on the
United States Marshal of the North
ern District, and Sheriff of Cuyahoga
County, as well as the L. S. District
Attorney for the Northern District, to
show cause by 10 o'clock on Saturday,
the Odd inst, why the writ Of habcas
corpus should not issue according to
the prayers Of the applicants"
A notice was promptly served upon
the Marshal, the District Attorney and
the Sheriff, commanding them " and
each Of them to appear before the said
Court on Saturday, the 23d day of
April, A. d. 1859, at ten o'clock A. NJ,
of said day, and show cause, if any
they have, why a writ of habeas corpus
in this behalf should not issue in &C.
cordance with the prayer of the appli-
cants." The Leader says:
District Attorney Belden was not
little excited by the above notice.
He was heard to threaten that the
prisoners should not be taken to Co
lumbus on writ of habedS corpus from
the Supreme Court of Ohio, and that
they could not be taken to the cars,
save through the lannon's mouth
The bravado United States officials evil
IDENTIFY contemplate making the streets
Of our peaceful city bristlc with Uni
ted States bayonets. The United
States District Attorney cooled off
enough however by evening to take
the train to Columbus. Marshal John
son remained to guard and wait upon
his imprisoned witnesses, kidnappers
Jennings and Mitchell, and the con-
victed Bushnell, who was yesterday
disgracefully decoyed from the Coun.
ty Jail to the Marshal's prison, la flu.
gitive John by the young villain Boyn
ton"
We await with deep interest the
further moves in the game between
the Free Sellers of the Buckeye State
| anl Tho ,u,@,Gs, Al