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had visited a neighboring farm, and cruelly murdered, without provocation, a poor black woman. This with the circumstances of their visiting and calling for the man last night, alarmed, and terrified them so that they fled from this place this morning. They were advised to do so by the white lady of the house where they were hired. These are the facts as narrated by the man himself.  He came to me for advice and protection.  A number of circumstances induce me to suspect that the man to whom they were hired (their former owner) had a hand in this affair, and that the design of the parties last night was not to murder but frighten them off. It seems that they had a verbal agreement with this man to cultivate his farm for one third of the crop, and find themselves.  They cultivated the crop, laid it by, and think it will yield about 200 bags of Cotton.  This will give them 6 3/8 Sales for their share and will probably net them $600.  Now it may have been an artifice of the employer to get possession of their cotton.  All sorts of tricks, and chicanery have been resorted to throughout this section to defraud the poor negroes out of the fruits of their toil. It was a touching and mournful sight to see these poor creatures trudging along foot sore and weary, with little bundles of clothes, in their hands, their earthly all, fleeing as for life.  

They have no money, no provisions, no shelter, but are either driven by a murderous crew, or frightened away by a dishonest villain, to starve. The policy of the people in many places is to free the negroes with a starving condition that they may cry out, "See what freedom has done for the negro!"  Many, after the crops were cultivated

Transcription Notes:
I believe it says 200 bags of cotton, not 20. I think it says "fled from the place this" and not "fled from this place this".