r official
insignia, entered the tavern I have mentioned, in quest of a fugitive
from justice. He inquired of a person whom he met in the public
apartment, if he had lately seen one Captain E----, who, it seems, on
some supposed provocation, had only thrown a custom-house officer into
the dock in one of our eastern harbors. The person addressed by the
marshal said that Captain E---- had just passed down the street, and when
the marshal turned to pursue the culprit, that individual, who was no
other than the one just addressed, slipped out of another door, ran by
the stable in the rear of the tavern and called upon Jem Knox, the
hostler, to harness a chaise with all speed and to follow him forthwith
in his flight. It appears, that the story of the captain's adventure was
already pretty well known in the public places of the town, and as a
visit of the marshal from Boston was a very extraordinary event in a
place usually so quiet, a prying character who was upon the spot asked
him if he was not looking for Captain E----. Upon receiving an
affirmative reply,--"That's the man," said he, "you have just spoken to."
The marshal started in pursuit and the captain had called out to such
persons of his acquaintance as saw him running, that he was chased by a
United States' officer. Half way through the street, one Clement Starr, a
stalwart Englishman, who lived at the spot and whose sympathies,
political and otherwise, were with the weaker party, seized the marshal
by the collar and insisted upon knowing what was the cause of the
considerable tumult which the outcry--"Stop him!" had raised. Escaping
this obstacle, the poor marshal was soon afterwards clasped in the
vigorous embrace of a spirited matron, who stood on her door-step as he
passed, and, besides being an acquaintance of the captain, was of the
same political proclivities as those of the retreating mariner.

While tearing himself away from this lively lady, Knox drove furiously
by, pulled up as he overtook the fugitive, who, as a witness of the
affair told me, tumbled into the chaise, and was soon out of the reach of
the threatening danger. Whether he was ever taken afterwards, or what
became of the prosecution, I have never heard.

Not far from us lived a worthy widow, with a family of children, and on
one occasion she was heard to mingle rather curiously an office of
devotion with a somewhat severe threat of domestic discipline. It was a
day in summer, and the window