At 8-1/2 o'clock, next morning, they were
taken before United States Commissioner G.W. Morton, "where
the case came up for the most summary and hasty hearing that
has ever characterized our judicial proceedings." Dunning and
Smith were counsel for the masters, but the fugitives had no
counsel; and the hearing was finished, and a warrant granted
to the slave claimants before the matter became known in the
city. When Mr. Jay and Mr. Culver hastened to the court-room
to offer their services to the prisoners, as counsel, they
were assured by officers, _and by Commissioner Morton
himself_, that the men wanted no counsel, and were not in the
building. On search, however, it was found they were in the
building, locked up in a room. They said they desired counsel
and the aid of friends. A writ of _habeas corpus_ was
obtained, but before it could be served the three men had
been removed from the State, and were on their way to
Baltimore. [See the published. Card of E.
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