A FUGITIVE SLAVE CASE IN THE UNITED. STATES. [From the New York Tribune ]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 745, 22 September 1852, Page 3

A FUGITIVE SLAVE CASE IN THE UNITED. STATES. [From the New York Tribune ]

It will be remembered, and so the evidence on the trial shows, that Preston, the alleged fugitive, was arrested late in the afternoon of Tuesday last, on the pretended charge of stealing ; that his^master in Baltimore was immediately telegraphed that his man was caught ; that on the same evening he appointed Mr. Busteed, of this city, his agent, to pursue and claim the fugitive for him ; that the claimant's son came the next day. He arrived here in the evening ; went to Busteed's about eleven o'clock, and had an interview with him. Busteed, next morning, made affidavit, swearing positively and unequivocally to the slavery, the title, and the escape, making out the whole case. Preston, the " fugitive," was taken by officer Martin to the Tombs, and locked up in the Sixth Ward cells. He could not, nor could Mr. Culver, his counsel, learn that any complaint had been preferred against him, or any warrant issued, or any examination had, or any commitment made out. He was kept locked up in that place, as he says, till 12 or 1 o'clock at night (mark the hour,) then taken out and conducted to the Second Ward station-house. There he was held till the claimant's son arrived, when, it appears, he, together with Busteed and Martin, held a consultation at the Second Ward station-house. Preston's wife, his counsel, and several oft his friends had been untiring in their pursuit of, and inquiry for him, but could learn nothing whatever until a man hallooed to the wife in the park 'that they had just taken her husband into the United States Court-room. Preston's counsel and wife hurried with all speed to the Court-room, but on arriving found a witness sworn and giving evidence. At this stage our reporter has taken up the case and kept our readers advised on the subject. When the case was adjourned on Friday afternoon to Saturday morning, it was with the avowed understanding on the part of Preston's counsel, and assented to by the Commissioner, that if the latter should deny the motion made and argued by Mr. Jay to quash or dismiss the proceedings, then the counsel should go into their defence on the merits. To that end, several witnesses were in attendance ; others had process out for them, to be served as soon as found. Some of these witnesses had known Preston in Baltimore, and were prepared to prove the declarations of his former mistress as to his freedom, and the provisions in her will to that effect. By others it was proposed to show the admission of the claimant, and others to contradict Busteed's affidavit and prove a conspiracy. The Commissioner, instead of deciding the ■ preliminary motion of Mr. Jay, and then stop- , ping, took the counsel, the prisoner, and the audience by surprise. He decided the whole case, and had his certificate in his hand, delivered it over in the twinkling of an eye, gathered up hi? papers, and retreated towards the back door of the room. Busteed hardly had time to kiss the Bible held out to him by the Commissioner. It was all in vain that Messrs. Jay, Emmett, and Culver jumped upon the floor, asking the Commissioner to hear them, urging .their surprise and the injustice done their client. Their efforts were all fruitless ; the Commissioner refused to hear anything futher . Mr. Culver was drawing an affidavit for Preston to attach a witness." His client, however, was taken suddenly from him, and removed to a back room in the Marshal's office. Air. Culver at once applied to the Marshal for permission to go to the room and see his client, to have him sign an affidavit for a habeas corpus. His request was sternly denied, nor could he get sight of Preston again till he was brought out to be started off South. Preston's counsel then appl : ed to Judge Judson for a habeas corpus, but he could not hear the application. Meantime the condemned man was got ready. His wife went ii. and had her last sad interview with him. Her cries and sobs were heard by the multitude outside. We doubt if a more touching exhibition of the workings of the Fugitive Slave Law has ever been witnessed. This man's wife stood by her husband for three, days with a devotion and tenderness unparalleled. Whenever permitted to sit near him she had fast hold of his* hand in ,both of hers, wringing , herself in the most intense, half-suppressed agony. Near the time of final separation, Busteed, the lawyer, to console her, gave her an orange, or peeled one for her. .About 12>'o'clock the procession appeared from the back room, Gen. Henry F. Tallmadge, United Stetes Marshal, in' front ; his sons, one

on the right and the other on the left of the " fugitive," and two sturdy deputies of foreign birth behind. Each seemed satisfied with the honourable post he was permitted to take in doing the slaveholders' work. The fugitive was conducted out at the back door into Chambersstreet, where a covered carriage was in readiness, into which he was put. The crowd, chiefly of coloured people, rushed round to catch" their last \iew of their friend— some running to the carriage door to shake hands and bid good-by, some in tears, some in suppressed murmurs, some calling on God to avenge the wrong, and one devotional old woman was heard crying, " God'll punish 'em ! God'll punish 'em ! " The carnage left at the time of writing this article. Horace Preston is back in slavery for life, a woman robbeS of her husband, and a little girl four years old of her. father. So ends the fourth fugitive slave case in New York.