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James City County.
 
Lieut. E. A. Chandler Ass't Sub. Ass't Comr.
office in Williamsburg

Records consist of Books of letters sent, endorsements and memoranda; orders, circulars, and instructions are complete or soon to be supplied; also retained copies of reports and files of letters. The register of marriages is not over half completed. 

The County undertakes to provide for it's own poor. Fifty dollars is the annual allowance for each pauper. On the first day of June in each year the number of destitutes is ascertained and assessment is made accordingly. The present tax is 35 cts on each $100. - There is no poor house. 

The administration of justice cannot with safety be left to the present civil authorities. It is undeniable that an ordinary jury would bear down on a black rather than a white man. There is, as elsewhere, a readiness to punish the freedmen, a reluctance to punish the other; the doubt goes against the former. The large fees of lawyers with the poverty of the people make it practically impossible to get their their cases

Transcription Notes:
Reopened for Editing 2023-10-06 10:28:39 Reopened for Editing 2023-10-06 10:53:07 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-10-06 11:49:53 to put in a missing space.