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"Make such practical and judicious suggestions as will, in your opinion, render the operations of the Bureau more efficient, &c., &c."

I have one suggestion to make, which I, earnestly, hope will claim your attention.  On the 16th of November, I received information from that portion of Polk Co. lately annexed to my district, that four criminals, who had committed an outrage on Mr. Goddins had taken refuge there, I, immediately, hired three horses, mounted my men, and started to arrest them.  On arriving in Polk Co, in the place where these criminals were supposed to be, I found it a perfect Pandemonium.  When I assumed the duties of Sub. Asst. Com'r for Walker and Madison Counties, I found considerable strife and dissension, and, also, a number of these lawless characters, but I have succeeded in allaying this and ridding the community of these desperadoes, and today I travel all over Walker County with no other weapon but a pen knife.

But that portion of Polk Co. lately annexed to my district, is a hell hole of Crime, a cesspool of iniquity, infested with a band of desperadoes and robbers, whose highest aim is to murder and plunder, and how am I to rid the Community of those people?  It would be useless for me to go there, in a dense thicket, with three infantry men, to arrest a lot of Hoosiers, who know every trail and cow path as well as I do my letters.

Now, if you could but send me eight or nine cavalry men, well mounted, for about three or four weeks, I would never cease my exertions until I brought every one of these scoundrels to

Transcription Notes:
hoosier was widely used to refer to the poor farmers or ignorant rustic people in general. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-08 09:53:35 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-08 15:05:21