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"Extraordinary Arrest." New York Morning Herald,18 Oct.,1839: 2.
EXTRAORDINARY ARREST.--Senors Ruiz and Montez in Jail at the suit of the Africans,
set on by Lewis Tappan.
Yesterday morning, the two Spanish gentlemen, Senors Ruiz and Montez, who barely escaped with their lives from the savages on board the schooner Amistad, were arrested and sent to jail, on certain affidavits, made by two of the Africans. The following are copies of these writs:--
City of New York, ss. THE PEOPLE of the State of New York, to the SHERIFF of the City and County of New York, GREETING:
WE COMMAND YOU
capias.
that you take JOSE or JOSEPH RUIZ, otherwise called PIPI; alien and subject of the
Queen of Spain, if he shall be found in your county, and him safely keep, so that
you may have his body before the Justices of the SUPERIOR COURT of the City of New
York at the City Hall, in the said City on the Third Monday of October, 1839, to
answer unto FULAH, an African of the Mendi tribe, in a plea of trespass and assault,
for falsely imprisoning, beating and ill treating, and wounding the said plaintiff,
to his damage two thousand dollars, as is said, and have you then there this writ.
Witness, SAMUEL JONES, Esq., Chief Justice of the said Court, at the City Hall, in
the said City, the first Monday of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirty
nine.
per curiam
THEODORE SEDGWICK, jun. Attorney
C. A. CLINTON, Clerk
[ENDORSEMENT]
NEW YORK SUPERIOR COURT.
FULAH VS. JOSEPH RUIZ.
Capias, Ret. 3d. Monday October, 1839.
THEODORE SEDGWICK, Jun. Attorney
Let the within named defendant be held to bail in one thousand dollars--Oct. 16,
1839.
S. JONES
CITY OF NEW YORK, ss. THE PEOPLE of the State of New York, to the SHERIFF of the said City and County of New York, GREETING:
WE COMMAND YOU,
capias
that you take JOSE or JOSEPH RUIZ, otherwise called PIPI, and PEDRO MONTEZ, aliens
and subjects of the Queen of Spain, if they shall be found in your county, and them
safely keep, so that you may have their bodies before the Judges of the Court of
COMMON PLEAS for the City and County of New York, at the City Hall, in the said City
on the Third Monday of October, 1829, to answer SINQUAH, an African of the Mendi
tribe in a plea of trespass and assault, for falsely imprisoning, beating, ill treating
and wounding the said plaintiff to his damage two thousand dollars, as is said, and
have you then there this Writ. Witness, MICHAEL ULSHOEFFER, Esquire, First Judge
of the said Court, at the City Hall, in the said city, the third Monday of September,
one thousand eight hundred and thirtynine.
per curiam.
THEODORE SEDGWICK, Jun. Attorney
JOSEPH HOXIE, Clerk.
[ENDORSEMENT]
NEW YORK COMMON PLEAS.
SINQUAH VS. JOSE RUIZ AND PEDRO MONTEZ.
Capias, Ret. 31 Monday, 1839.
THEODORE SEDGWICK, Jun. Attorney.
Hold defendants to bail in one thousand dollars, 10th Oct. 1839, each..
D. P. INGRAHAM
A. J. C. P.
The head, front, soul, body, and breeches of this strange business, is the immaculate Lewis Tappan. The affidavits were procured by his efforts, under the advisement of Theodore Sedgwick, who is the counsel in the case. The savages, without hardly knowing the existence of a Deity, and caring for nothing but eating three dinners per day, and tumbling before their visitors for a sixpence per head, are made to affix marks to affidavits, and to accuse these Spaniards of false imprisonment and other offences, in order to harrass [sic] and annoy them during their residence in this land of liberty. Yesterday, Lewis Tappan himself carried these writs to the sheriff of this city, and volunteered to accompany his officer, and point out the Spanish gentlemen in the street, or wherever he could find them. Accordingly it was so done. Lewis Tappan, like his prototype, who first kissed his master and then sold him for thirty pieces of silver, went up to Mr. Ruiz and said to him, with a half-benevolent, half-malignant smile--"How do you do, Mr. Ruiz?" Then turning to the officer, he said, "This is your man--take him." Mr. Ruiz then, to his astonishment, and before he had time to say, "God bless me," was arrested at the suit of the savages, as named in the preceding writs. "I have no bail--I cannot get bail at prevent [sic]," said Mr. Ruiz. "Then you'll have to go to prison," said Lewis, with a chuckle. The same process took place with Senor Montez, who is now almost too sick and weak to be out of his bed. And so both of these gentlemen were marched to prison, and locked up at the suit of those very savages who threatened their lives, during a voyage of sixty days on the ocean.
How Judge Jones, under the circumstances of the case, demanded so high bail as $1,000 or $2,000, we cannot divine. If all the savages make similar affidavits--and we learn that Lewis Tappan has secured this point--it is probably that these two gentlemen will be incarcerated through the winter, or be forced to procure bail for $30,000 or $40,000. We now see the uses to which the abolitionists have put these savages. Professing themselves to be friends of philanthropy and liberty, they take every opportunity to exhibit their real motives to the world. If ever deeper and intense malignity could be shown to the world than Lewis Tappan has now exemplified we should like to hear of it.--For the sake of human nature, it is to be hoped that his conscience will not make him hang himself on the next tree; because if he wait till he gets a little leaner, there will be less danger of his breaking the rope. The abolition party are developing their real feelings. They will soon be understood by the Christian world.
