Gallagher

The libel in this case is filed to recover damages for a marine tort. The facts are clearly established by the evidence. It appears that the libellant who was a night watchman in the custom house, was, on the 25th May, 1856, seized by certain persons acting under the order of the vigilance committee, and conveyed to the rooms of the association, where he was held as a prisoner for about a week. During his confinement a kind of investigation with regard to his character and conduct was made by the committee. The investigation, called by them “a trial,” was conducted in the absence of the prisoner, by examining such witnesses as were produced against and for him. The result of the examination was the conviction of the accused, not of any particular offense, so for as it appears, but of being a “disorderly character,” “a pest to society, and a nuisance.” H'i was, therefore, sentenced by the committee to “banishment from the state, never to return, under the severest penalties,” i. e. under penalty of death. In pursuance of this “sentence,” the libellant, with several others, was taken by an armed body of men from his place of confinement in this city, and put on board a steam tug,…