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Mayors Office
City of Mobile, Feby 3d 1866.

General,

When in Montgomery, I states to you that no conflict, and no unpleasant interference, has resulted between the City Authorities & the Freedmens Court and that I did not feel justified in expressing the opinion that such court could be safely & properly dispensed with in this county. Since my return, I find that cases which should properly have been disposed of before the Mayor Court, have been taken charge & disposed of by the Freedmens Court, and that thereby much doubt & confusion has been produced inn the minds of the Police as to what their duties really require of them. So long as the State continues under Military Authority, the civil Tribunals of the state, must of course, be held secondary to those established by the Controlg. power. This necessarily makes my position as Mayor, unpleasant, if not humiliating. This county is an exceedingly poor one, as you know, I presume, and without an acre of good arable land. Hence, outside the city limits, fewer Negroes can be found than in almost any other county of the state. The Special Court is therefore of but most limited

Transcription Notes:
2-21-2021: Transcribed per guidelines and marking for review