indirectly, to escape from such claimant, his Agent or Attorney, or other person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such Fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person was a Fugitive from service or labor as aforesaid, shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the District Court of the United States for the District in which such offence may have been committed, or before the proper Court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized Territories of the United States; and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil damages to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand dollars for each Fugitive so lost as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of debt in any of the District or Territorial Courts aforesaid, within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed.

SECT. 8. And be it further enacted, That the Marshals, their Deputies, and the Clerks of the said Districts and Territorial Courts, shall be paid for their services the like fees as may be allowed to them for similar services in other cases; and where such services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, custody, and delivery of the Fugitive to the claimant, his or her Agent or Attorney, or where such supposed Fugitive may be discharged out of custody from the want of sufficient proof as aforesaid, then such fees are to be paid in the whole by such complainant, his Agent or Attorney; and in all cases where the proceedings are before a Commissioner, he shall be entitled to a fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each case, upon the delivery of the said certificate to the claimant, his or her Agent or Attorney; or a fee of five dollars in cases where proof shall not, in the opinion of such Commissioner, warrant such certificate and delivery, inclusive of all services incident to such arrest and examination, to be paid, in either case, by the claimant, his or her Agent or Attorney. The person or persons authorized to execute the process to be issued by such Commissioners for the arrest and detention of Fugitives from service or labor as aforesaid, shall also be entitled to a fee of five dollars each for each person he or they may arrest and take before any such Commissioner as aforesaid, at the instance and request of such claimant, with such other fees as may be deemed reasonable by such Commissioner for such other additional services as may be necessarily performed by him or them: such as attending to the examination, keeping the Fugitive in custody and providing him with food and lodgings during his detention, and until the final determination of such Commissioner; and in general for performing such other duties as may be required by such claimant, his or her Attorney or Agent or Commissioner in the premises; such fees to be made up in conformity with the fees usually charged by the officers of the Courts of Justice within the proper District or County, as near as may be practicable, and paid by such claimants, their Agents or Attorneys, whether such supposed Fugitive from service or labor be ordered to be delivered to such claimants by the final determination of such Commissioners or not.

SECT. 9. And be it further enacted, That upon affidavit made by the claimant of such Fugitive, his Agent or Attorney, after such certificate has been

issued, that he has reason to apprehend that such Fugitive will be rescued by force from his or their possession before he can be taken beyond the limits of the State in which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty of the officer making the arrest to retain such Fugitive in his custody, and to remove him to the State whence he fled, and there to deliver him to the said claimant, his Agent or Attorney. And to this end the officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to employ so many persons as he may deem necessary, to overcome such force, and to retain them in his service so long as circumstances may require; the said officer and his assistants, while so employed, to receive the same compensation, and to be allowed the same expenses as are now allowed by law for the transportation of criminals, to be certified by the Judge of the District within which the arrest is made, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.

SECT. 10. And be it further enacted, That when any person held to service or labor in any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, shall escape therefrom, the party to whom such service or labor shall be due, his heirs, or their Agent or Attorney, may apply to any Court of record therein, or Judge thereof in vacation, and make such satisfactory proof to such Court or Judge thereof in vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that the person escaping owed service or labor to such party. Whereupon the Court shall cause a record to be made of the matters so proved, and also a general description of the person so escaping, with such convenient certainty as may be; and a transcript of such record, authenticated by the attestation of the Clerk, and of the seal of the said Court being produced in any other State, Territory, or District in which the person so escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any Judge, Commissioner, or other officer authorized by the law of the United States to cause persons escaping from service or labor to be delived up, shall be held and taken to be full and conclusive evidence of the fact of escape, and that the service or labor of the person escaping is due to the party in such record mentioned. And upon the production by the said party of other and further evidence, if necessary, either oral or by affidavit, in addition to what is contained in said record of the identity of the person escaping, he or she shall be delivered up to the claimant. And said Court, Commissioner, Judge, or other person authorized by this Act to grant certificates to claimants of Fugitives, shall upon the production of the record and other evidences aforesaid, grant to such claimant a certificate of his right to take any such person, identified and proved to be owing service or labor as aforesaid, which certificate shall authorize such claimant to seize, or arrest, and transport such person to the State or Territory from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as requiring the production of a transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid, but in its absence, the claim shall be heard and determined upon other satisfactory proofs competent in law.

Approved, September 18, 1850.

MILLARD FILLMORE.