572
LAWS OF MARYLAND.
Passed May
31, 1853.
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CHAPTER 392.
AN ACT for the relief of William Bryan, late Sheriff of
Anne Arundel county.
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Preamble.
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WHEREAS, it is represented to
this General Assembly
by the petition of William Bryan, late sheriff of Anne
Arundel county, that sometime in the month of December,
in the year eighteen hundred and forty-nine,
a negro man named George, the slave of a certain Catharine
Gardiner, of Prince George's county, was committed
to the jail of the county first aforesaid, and shortly
after broke from and made his escape from the said
jail, and that afterwards suit was instituted by the said
Catharine Gardiner against the said William Bryan,
sheriff as aforesaid, for the recovery of the value of the
said slave, and judgment obtained against him in the
circuit court of said county, for the supposed value of
said slave; And whereas, it has been represented by
the said William Bryan, that by reason of some legal
technicality he was estopped from setting up the weakness
and insecurity of the said jail, as a ground of
defence in the said suit; And whereas, it is just and
proper that the said William Bryan, should be reimbursed
the said judgment, if the said negro made his
escape from the said jail by reason of its weakness and
insecurity, and not by his or or the neglect of his deputy;
Therefore,
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Examination
of witnesses.
Authority to
levy.
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Be it enacted by the General
Assembly of Maryland,
That the commissioners of Anne Arundel county be,
and they are hereby authorised to examine upon oath
all witnesses that may be brought before them, or such
others that they may deem necessary to examine, in
order to ascertain the condition of the jail of Anne
Arundel county at the time of the escape of the negro
slave aforesaid, and in making such examination they
are hereby further authorised to call to their aid the
State's attorney for said county; and if after such examination,
they should be fully satisfied that the said
William Bryan, or his deputy, then the commissioners
of the county aforesaid, be, and they are hereby authorised
and required to levy upon the assessable property
of said county, for the use of the said William Bryan,
the amount of the judgment, exclusive of interest, and
all costs of prosecution rendered against the said Bryan
in the circuit court of the county aforesaid, on account
of the escape of the said negro slave.
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