Viewing page 203 of 238

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

4.V.1124.

Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 
HEAD QUARTERS ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER STATE OF VIRGINIA
Richmond, Va., July 20th 1866. 

Capt. W.P. Austin
Supt. 1st Dist 
Capt. 
I am directed to call your attention to the enclosed clipping taken from the Richmond Dispatch of this date, and to request that you direct the Asst. Supt of Suffolk to report in the case without delay

Very Respectfully
James A. Bates
Brvt. Lt. Col. & A.A.A.G.

TAKEN UP AND TAKEN DOWN.--On Monday night, the negro servant of a farmer in Suffolk refused to do any work, and commenced celebrating his "freedom" by a profusion of energetic abuse levelled at his master. This latter, as a natural consequence, took the recalcitrant negro in hand, and gave him a healthy beating. When he had finished, he asked the negro whether he did not want to go up to the Freedmen's Bureau. The negro said yes, and the farmer at once carried him to the court-house, and into the presence of the Acting Assistant Deputy District Chief of the Bureau of Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. Of course the negro told his tale as well as the farmer; and when both had concluded, the Acting Assistant Freedmen's Bureau told the astonished "freedman" that he had been served exactly right, and that he had a great mind to give him a second dose himself. This was the last act in the drama. Exit the farmer and the negro, one gratified, the other stupified, and both very much astounded.

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-07-18 08:40:29 removed per SI instructions [[clipping]] [[/clipping]]