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I informed him that if I knew how to decide now I would not set a day to hear proof. He has finally filed a petition and I have set a day to hear proof &c. Whilst Mr. Hayes was in conversation with me he exhibited a letter from you to Mr. Moore in which you state that Mr. Hays had informed you that Mr. Moore refused to let the freedmen on his place leave with their property and you state that only Mr. M. had a previous contract with them that he had no right to forbid their departure with their property all of which is perfectly true and as well understood here by everybody as anywhere else I refer to in this letter because (as I informed Mr. Hayes) that you seemed to have had no other fact in view at the time show that Mr. Moore was keeping by force these freedmen at his house. Without having made any contact with them on having any legal claim upon them-MR. Moore has twice informed me that Mr. Hayes represented to him when he first came down; that he had made a contact with the fathers of these minors not only for his own children, but another family of freedmen living at Mr. Moores with whom he is is no case connected and over whom he had no controll. This other family [[strikethrough]]it seemed [[strikethrough]] I am informed by Mr. Moore was forbid under the following circumstances sometime since the mother of the children requests Mr. Moore to gather some children which he ha given off to his married daughters and bring them to his house and he would be perfectly satisfied. He put himself to a good deal of trouble and succeeded in getting his family all at his house with their mother and he had also bound them in the same [[?]] with those Mr. Hayes is now claiming- The mother of this children came to see me and told me she was satisfied with the binding of her children to Mr. Moore and only wanted to know if it was so as there are all sorts of rumors and tales afloat at the time Mr. Hayes first came down and demanded these freedmen they were already bound, except the mother and Mr. Moore informs me that he did tell her that she should not go off and leave the children after doing for her all she