This case arises under sections 5278 and 5279 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which provide:
'Sec. 5278. Whenever the executive authority of any state or territory demands any person as a fugitive from justice of the executive authority of any state or territory to which such person has fled, and produces a copy of an indictment found, or affidavit made before a magistrate of any state or territory, charging the person demanded with having committed treason, felony, or other crime, certified as authentic by the governor or chief magistrate of the state or territory from whence the person has fled, it shall be the duty of the executive authority of the state or territory to which such person has fled to cause him to be arrested and secured, and to cause notice of the arrest to be given to the executive authority making such demand, or to the agent of such authority appointed to secure the fugitive, and to cause the fugitive to be delivered to such agent when he shall appear. If no such agent appears within six months from the time of the arrest, the prisoner may be discharged. All costs and expenses incurred in the apprehending, securing, and transporting such fugitive to the state or territory making such demand shall be paid by such state or territory.
'Sec. 5279. Any agent who receives the fugitive into his custody shall be empowered to transport him to the state or territory from which he has fled. And every person who, by force, sets at liberty or rescues the fugitive from such agent while so transporting him, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than one year.' 1 St. c. 7, §§ 1, 2.
It is not necessary to consider the question suggested by counsel as to the right of the governor of the territory to have withheld the papers upon which he based his warrant for the arrest of the accused; for the record shows that the requisition and the accompanying papers from the governor of Pennsylvania constituted the evidence upon which he acted, and were submitted to the court to which the writ of habeas corpus was returned. Under the act of congress, it became the duty of the governor of Utah to cause the arrest of Reggel, and his delivery to the agent appointed to receive him, when it appeared (1) that the demand by the executive authority of Pennsylvania was accompanied by a copy of an indictment, or affidavit made before a magistrate, charging Reggel with having committed treason, felony, or other crime within that state, and certified as authentic by her governor; (2) that the person demanded was a fugitive from justice.
The first of these conditions was met by the production to the governor of Utah of the indictment (duly certified as authentic) of the grand jury of the court of quarter sessions of the peace for the city and county of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, wherein the accused was charged with having committed the crime of obtaining, by false pretenses, certain goods, with the intent to cheat and defraud the persons therein named; which offense, as was made to appear from the statutes of that common wealth, (a copy of which, duly certified as authentic, accompanied the indictment,) is a misdemeanor under the laws of Pennsylvania, punishable by a fine not exceeding $500, and imprisonment not exceeding three years.