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Office Sub Asst Com'r
Bureau of R.F and A.L
Marshall Texas
February 1st 1867

Lt. J.S. Kirkman U.S.A.
A.A.A. Genl. Bu of R.F and A.L
State of Texas

Lieutenant
I have the honor to report that on the 7th of January a freedman named Toby, was fired upon by a man named Scarborough.  I sent a civil Officer to arrest him, but he only told the accused to come when he got ready, and before I could get another Officer after him, he had left the country.  On the 24th, a man named Charles Hodges, shot a freedman named Lawson Lang.  The object was amusement.  I could not catch him.  During December a man named Thomas Starkey shot a freedman named John Brewer.  I have just succeeded in arresting him.

Numerous cases of murder &c are presented but being without mounted men, I can take no action.  There are twenty seven counties in this district, and it is impossible to reach the distant counties with Infantry.  [[strikethrough]] The effect produced by the presence of troops (no matter how few) is sensibly felt in this immediate locality.  The masses are violently opposed to educating the freedmen, we nevertheless have a school of [[/strikethrough]]