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6

I only hope that when the crops come to be divided this fall that it will be done fairly and the freedpeople receive what is justly their due. Judging from the past however I fear such will not be the case. To cheat the freedpeople has heretofore been legitimate plunder and although there has sprung up latetely a hot house feeling or desire among the people to convince the freedpeople that they are their only true and best friends, I fear it will not extend to dealing fairly and equitably in the settlements this fall.

The strongest instance I know of, to illustrate the desire of the white people in the particular just mentioned, occured at Huntsville Walker Co. where a freedman was convicted of some offense and sentenced to an imprisonment of five minutes and informed by the officer sentencing that he was dealt with thus leniently to prove to him and his