Viewing page 202 of 298

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

2

and treat the summons with contempt. There is also occasionally a case in which persons refuse to comply with decisions of the Court, and in such cases as these I am completely powerless with any troops. One case in particular with I desire to call your attention to is that of E.P. Walton, who is tried by the Court for a violation of Contract which he acknowledges to have been made with a freedwoman, and by which he brought complaint from Kentucky during the war under the promise of returning her to her parents whenever she desired it. The Court heard all the testimony in, and carefully weighed the case, and unanimously rendered the following verdict: Said Walton to be allowed thirty Days in which to furnish necessary funds to Defray the womans expenses back to her parents. The time  expired on the 15th of January, 1866, and he has failed to comply, or give any explanation why. Now, unless the decisions of the Court can be enforced it is all a farce, and might as well be discontinued. What I would recommend in the case is this: That you immediately write to Richmond giving a statement of these facts, and request a guard to be sent here at once to arrest said Walton and take him to Richmond and compel him to comply with the decision of the Court. Our Court here is composed of myself and two as respectable Citizens as there is in town. One of them is a middle aged man, the other an aged man and neither of them disposed to