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[[stamp]] THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES [[/stamp]]

man with great care and kindness from Saturday the 24th inst when the affair occurred until the evening of the 28th when Bows died.
In the same day that he committed the act young Barnes fled and his whereabouts has not, thus far, been ascertained.
I was present at the coroners Inquest, and the case is now before the civil authorities. Nevertheless I shall use every effort to have the offender brought to justice, if he can be found, and, from the earnest and decorous manner in which the investigation of the circumstances concerning the death of the Freedman was made, I am inclined to think the civil authorities will act in like manner.
This occurrence has been regretted by everybody whom I have heard speak of it, and, in my opinion, it should not be considered as an evidence of a malevolent feeling existing in the minds of the white inhabitants of the county against the Freedmen, although it is possible that some young and thoughtless persons or the foolish and ill designing of mature years may, out of my presence, speak inconsiderately and cruelly of this sad event.
The evils resulting from the Freedmen renting and settling on poor lands, giving one fourth of the crop still exist, but, I am happy to say, are not on the increase as, in most cases, they bestow a good deal of time, labor, and money in building their cabins, it to some extent places them in the hands and at the mercy of the owners of the land, a phase of the system to which I did not refer in my February Report. Taken as a whole I must again say that this mode of farming is very pernicious to the