Haun, the County
Judge. The writ was executed forthwith, and the same evening I was
taken before the Judge. There was a great crowd present. I called
the sheriff to the stand and asked him if he had any writ, process,
commitment, or order by which he held me in custody. He replied that
he had none. I then put on the stand Samuel B. Mulford and Jesse O.
Goodwin and several others, who were present in the District Court
where the scenes narrated had occurred, and they testified that there
was nothing disrespectful in my language or manner; that I had not
used an expression at which anybody could justly take offence; and
that they had been utterly surprised at the conduct of the Judge,
which was violent and tyrannical; and that they saw no possible excuse
for it. This testimony was of course of no consequence on the question
presented by the habeas corpus; because, as there was no order or
warrant for my arrest in the possession of the officer, I could not,
under any circumstances, be held; but I wished to show my friends, who
had not been present in the court-room, the facts of the case.
I was of course at once discharged. But the matter did not end there.
An excited crowd was present, and as I left the court-room they
cheered enthusiastically. I thereupon invited them to the Covillaud
House, a public house in the town, and directed the keeper to dispense
to them the good things of his bar.
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