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Grand Jury meet in that County when I shall have Layhew indicted & have a true bill found against him. This I consider the better mode of obtaining justice than bringing him before a Magistrate for they, the Magistrates, will invariably placate the murder if committed by a white man. I shall, endeavor to have the murdered found out in the case of Richard Johnson, cold, committed on the 25th inst. in Montgomery County, also in the case of James Drake, cold, committed in Davidson Co. on the 2nd inst for which the Crocketts were arrested & tried. I have in compliance with your instructions employed detectives in this case to find the murderers & hope to be able ere next month passes to report success. The Brothers Crockett who had been arrested upon the sworn affidavit of Lydia Drake as to the killing of her husband & the wounding of herself they proved a complete alibi & my firm conviction is they are not the guilty parties.

The payment of claims which commenced about three months ago & which is continually increasing will not doubt alleviate a great deal of the distress this winter which would otherwise occur and will be the means of relieving the Gov't from an expense which would otherwise be necessary for their subsistence. Lands being