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Tampa Bay Florida
May 25. 1857

Sir,

I read yr. letter of Ap. 25 this morning. The ponys advertised by me were claimed by Mr D.Stone of Mandarin to whom the Indians said they belonged and on Mar. 25 I remitted to him the nett proceed of the sale----$80=
    Mr. Stone's description was very accurate, but to satisfy you I will ask Mr. Larrie to look at the ponys - still in the neighborhood & give you an account of them & compare them with yr. description
    Please ask Mr. Crawford to give me his address & a description of his mule that I may remit him the proceeds of the sale if the one given up to me be his it is very male
    I will hand yr letter to the new agent when he comes back (out west)
Meantime, I did not hear from the Indians of any more animals among them

Very respectfully 
JCCasey
Capt. U.S.A.

Mr F. Russell Esq
Ind. Agnt P.O. Fla

Tampa Bay Fla
June 2nd 1851

Dear Sir

    I recd yr letter of May 29th today and shall proceed to give you a copy of any "General Instructions" and such of the details as I can think of today - That may aid you in your intercourse with the Seminoles
    Up to the present moment I have not received a line from Washington in relation to the Contact between the Com.of Ind. Affairs & Mr. Blake or to the authority & duty of Mr. Blake under his Contract.
My Gen. Instructions from Washington are as follows-
*Here copy of *Gen. Instructions * omitted

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Under these instructions I made ^ it ^ my business 
1stly - To get all within the line.
2ndly - To keep them there under their chiefs
3rdly - to settle the murder business
4thly - lastly - to urge emigration as far as could be done without producing a bad feeling - for if we urge that question we must be ready for war or trouble. While that is held out as a roll peace laws cannot be maintained by the chiefs.
I talked quickly to them, but never made any threats nor promises which I had not the means of enforcing 
[[underline]] Echo Emathla Chopko [[/underline]] and his people have been outlaws for years - They have only lately been forced under the law. 
He is a bold, bad man and requires to be held in check. If he did not murder the boy he knew of it. he was the chief of those who did it, yet he never reported it - [[? nay ]] more although I sent for him (last October) to come & get his pay (full pay $1.49) for his ponies- he never came to see me. He was afraid to come in more than once - when he had an altercation with a Seminole who charged with the murder while both [[?were]] drunk.
I fear he took pay for his ponies in the boy's blood, and when I sent for him to come & get his pay - he apprehended that I was guilty of irony & intended to kill him - otherwise he would have come in for he had $2.69- due to him at Ft. Myers. Understand that I do not claim any right to go behind or look beyond the occasion of the Indian Council in relation to the criminals, unless the proof of fraud be manifested, and I would now only caution you about this man & the late outsider Seminoles-
Neither [[underline]]E.E. Chopko [[/underline]] nor [[underline]] Chohan Tustunukkee [[/underline]] should never much countenance in Council, and their claims should come through Bowlegs or other chiefs so as to aid the chiefs in keeping them under their laws.
Now as to my promises to Bowlegs when I last saw him-
I promised him -