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his conduct since he was elected commissioner. Have enquiries made privately among the freedmen in different parts of the county, and the same enquiries made of respectable farmers & so forth in different parts of the county.  If your agent is at the Court House, he might enquire very confidentially & privately of Mr Walton, Colonel Forbes, Billy Shaw, Billy Perkins, Billy Hawker, Tony Perkins, Nat: Morris, Ned Stegur, Henry Mason living at or near to Court House.  Now I guess they will have somethings on hand, if they will only tell what they know or think, but as they are neighbors of Mr. Puryear & may feel onwilling to talk plainly, your agent might enquire of other people living down on Slate River, or near Willis Mountain or New Store or Rick Miller in Buckingham.  This much I tell you General, that this subject requires attention & onquiry, and the sooner, the better, for the good of the white & black people, & particularly the poor negroes, as they say they are the ones whom their supposed friend Puryear has plucked ever since November last.

General, I wish you good health & in conclusion I tell you, that I am no enemy or slanderer of Mr Puryear, as I dont know him, but that I think it is your duty to see & search into the charges brought by the freedmen, as stated & explained in this letter of mine.  I am a plain man and as you neither know or care a gincercake about my name, I shant give it, so, General, I wish you good day.

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