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[169]
Court of the United States.
Friend Hopper's keen eye could detect no available flaw in it. When the agent had been sworn to answer truly all questions relating to the case, he inquired whether the fugitive he was in search of had been advertised; if so, he wished to see the advertisement.
It was handed to him, and he instantly noticed that it was headed ‘Sixty Dollars Reward.’
‘Art thou to receive sixty dollars for apprehending the man mentioned in this advertisement?’
said he.
The agent replied, ‘I am to receive that sum provided I take him home to Virginia.’
‘How canst thou prove that the man thou hast arrested is the one here advertised?’
inquired he.
The agent answered that he could swear to the fact.
‘That may be,’ rejoined Friend Hopper; ‘but in Philadelphia we do not allow any person, especially a stranger, to swear sixty dollars into his own pocket, Unless there is better evidence than thy oath, the man must be set at liberty.’
The agent became extremely irritated, and said indignantly, ‘Do you think I would swear to a lie?’
‘Thou art a stranger to me,’ replied Friend Hopper.
‘I don't know whether thou wouldst swear ’
Boston, J. P. Jewett and Company; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington; London; Low and Company, 1854.
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