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Tribunal, and declared acquitted of all past offences including that grave charge of murder for the sum of $100 due the government of the United States. But cautioned under the persuasive influences aforesaid not to proceed against them, before the military power of the department. Those men are but a few of the ready tools set on to take my life by the former rebel leaders of Polk county whos citizens or some of them I left in armed hostility to the freedmen, and the execution of the laws. In my attempt to get out of Big Thicket in said county one William Gilbert guilty of murder and bring him to justice. The party summoned to cause his arrest was disbanded, and white armed organizations prevent his arrest. Freedmen since my removal have been beat run off without pay. Short and generally outlawed,  

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-04-13 10:29:42