Section 1
. . . Commissioners . . . [who] are authorized to exercise the powers that
any justice of the peace, or other magistrate of any of the United States
. . . by arresting, imprisoning, or bailing ["offenders for any crime or
offense against the United States"], . . . are hereby, authorized
and required to exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred
by this act.
Section 4
. . . Commissioners . . . shall grant certificates to such claimants
[i.e. people who claim the loss of "a person held to service or labor"],
upon satisfactory proof being made, with authority to take and remove such
fugitives from service or labor . . . to the State or Territory from
which such persons may have escaped or fled.
Section 5
. . . It shall be the duty of all marshals and deputy marshals to obey and
execute all warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of this act,
when to them directed; and should any marshal or deputy marshal refuse to
receive such warrant . . . or [refuse] to use all proper means diligently
to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum
of one thousand dollars, to the use of such claimant. . . . [If a fugitive
in the marshal's custody should] . . . escape, whether with or
without the assent of such marshal or his deputy, such marshal shall be
liable. . . to be prosecuted for the benefit of such claimant, for the
full value of the service or labor of said fugitive in the State,
Territory, or District whence he escaped. . . . The better to enable the
said commissioners, when thus appointed, to execute their duties
faithfully and efficiently, [they are authorized] . . . to summon and call
to their aid the bystanders, or posse comitatus of the proper county . . .
, and all good citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the
prompt and efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be
required. . . .
Section 6
. . . When a person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of
the United States, has heretofore or shall hereafter escape into another
State or Territory of the United States, the person or persons to whom
such service or labor may be due . . . may pursue and reclaim such
fugitive person, either by procuring a warrant from some one of the
courts, judges, or commissioners aforesaid . . . or by seizing and
arresting such fugitive [and taking such fugitive] . . . forthwith
before such court, judge, or commissioner, whose duty it shall be to hear
and determine the case of such claimant in a summary manner; and upon
satisfactory proof being made . . .[the claimant can] use such reasonable
force and restraint as may be necessary, . . . to take and remove such
fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may have
escaped as aforesaid. In no trial or hearing under this act shall the
testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence. . . .
Section 7
. . . Any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, hinder,
or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or persons
lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such a fugitive from
service or labor . . . or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such
fugitive . . . or shall aid, abet, or assist such person so owing service
or labor as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape . . . or shall
harbor or conceal such fugitive . . . shall, for either of said offences,
be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment
not exceeding six months . . . 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.
Section 8
. . . The marshals, their deputies, and the clerks of the said
District and Territorial Courts, shall be paid, for their services. . . .
Where such services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, custody, and
delivery of the fugitive to the claimant . . . or where such supposed
fugitive may be discharged out of custody for the want of sufficient proof
as aforesaid, then such fees are to be paid in whole by such claimant. . .
. 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, . . .
or a fee of five dollars in cases where the proof shall not, in the
opinion of such commissioner, warrant such certificate and delivery. . . .
The person or persons authorized to execute . . . 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, . . . with such other fees as may be deemed reasonable. . . .
such fees to be . . . paid by such claimants, . . . whether such
supposed fugitives from service or labor be ordered to be delivered to
such claimant by the final determination of such commissioner or not.