From the North American.

    In the U. S. Circuit Court, on Saturday, Judge Grier delivered an opinion in the case of John Jenkins and James Crossin, U. S. Deputy Marshals, who were arrested on a warrant issued by a magistrate of Luzerne County, charging them with riot, and committing an assault and battery upon William Thomas, an alleged fugitive slave, and in which matter a writ of habeas corpus was granted.
    The concluding part of the opinion, which is a lengthy one, is as follows:
    "In order to correct any false impressions which may have been received with regard to this transaction, we think it proper to give a brief history of the facts as elicited from the testimony of numerous and respectable eye-witnesses, who have been examined, and testify, not to rumor, but to what they saw and heard.
    "The three Deputies of the Marshal, accompanied by two gentlemen from Virginia, who were well acquainted with the fugitive to be arrested, entered the dining room of the Phoenix Hotel, in the morning, about seven o'clock, and found the negro Bill, or William Thomas, in the room. The agent of the owner took hold of the fugitive and handed him over to the officers, saying, 'This is the boy I require you to take under the warrant.' As the officers proceeded to arrest him, telling him they were United States officers, a violent struggle ensued. The landlord of the hotel, who was sitting at his breakfast, got up and went round the table, and said 'Bill, give up, there is no use to resist.' Bill called for his pistols. The Landlord attempted to get hold of him. Bill made a pass at him to hit him in the face, but missed it and struck him on the shoulder. The officers attempted to secure him; one of them seized him round the waist--he was thrown to the floor, but rising with them, he obtained possession of a carving-knife, and attempted to stab Mr. Settle, who had come to the assistance of the officers.
    This blow was partially warded off by another person, so that Settle was struck with the handle, instead of the point of the knife, on his elbow, and disabled from rendering further assistance. The knife being taken from him, the officers endeavored to secure the prisoner's hands with shackles or handcuffs, but succeeded only in getting them on his right wrist, when Bill struck Crossin, one of the deputies, over the head with the handcuffs, inflicting a cut on his temple, and stunning and disabling him for a time. Bill was again thrown down, the officers in vain attempting to secure his hands with the handcuffs; Bill rose up with them, and seized a table knife and wounded slightly the hand of Jenkins, who held him around the wrist. The knife was wrested from him, and likewise a fork, which he had seized. While Bill had possession of the carving knife, and was endeavoring to stab the officers, some one cried out to them, "why don't you shoot him?" One of them answered, 'we don't want a dead negro.' 'Do not hurt him,' one of the witnesses said, 'he fought desperately, and endeavored to kill them.' He made his way to the door at length, with one of the officers endeavoring to hold him, and finally released himself from them, and escaped, and ran towards the river. The officers then said they would try to frighten him, and fired off pistols, but did not point the pistols toward him. Bill waded into the river; some one furnished him with a large knife. The officers then despatched a messenger for the Sheriff, who refused to render them any assistance. Bill's clothes were much torn, and considerable blood had been shed over his face and clothes in the struggle; a large crowd collected; some exhorted him not to be taken alive, and he declared his intention to die or be drowned, rather than be taken. The officers, after dallying some time, being afraid to make further attempts to arrest him, as no one would assist them, gave up the attempt and went away, saying 'as the negro would not be taken alive, and they did not want him dead, they would pursue him no further.' After the departure of the officers, Bill said to two witnesses, who inquired of him if he was hurt, 'that he was not hurt, but had some bruises about the face.' He was afterwards taken away by some person, on a wagon, and made his final escape.
    "We are unable to perceive in this transaction, anything worthy of blame in the conduct of these officers, in their unsuccessful endeavors to fulfil a most dangerous and disgusting duty; except, perhaps, a want of sufficient courage and perseverance in the attempt to execute the writ. A careful examination of the testimony sufficiently exhibits the reason why those who were acquainted with the facts of the case, have been unwilling to prosecute the officers for their unsuccessful attempt, and left it to those who, to use their own language, 'knew nothing about it under heaven.'
    "In conclusion, as we find that the prisoners are officers of the United States, "in confinement for acts done in pursuance of a law of the United States," and "under process from a Judge of the same;" that they have in no way exceeded the exigency of the process under which they acted; That this prosecution has not been instituted, nor is now acknowledged by the State of Pennsylvania, but has its origin in some association living at a distance, and wholly ignorant of the whole transaction which they have volunteered to investigate. That the information on which the warrant to arrest the prisoners is founded, was sworn to by one who did not know whether the matter of the affidavit presented to him was true or false; and that by a statement of but half the truth, it is wholly false.
    "The prisoners are therefore discharged.

Source:

Unknown, "The Wilkesbarre Slave Case--Opinion of Judge Grier," The Luzerne Union, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Wednesday, 19 October 1853, page 2, cols. 3-4.