Viewing page 78 of 258

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

The abandonment of wives by their husbands is on the increase in this county. During the month several new cases have been reported to me, of which some are of a very aggravated character. But the law provides no adequate remedy - no punishment. I have conferred with the Commonwealth's Attorney, and he knows of no relief except a suit for separate maintenance. If allowed, I should arrest the progress of the evil, by arresting the offenders. And as a remedy for the future, I would respectfully recommend that the Legislature be urged to give the overseers of the poor power to prosecute the husband for the support of the wife, that she may not become a charge upon the county.

"The disposition on the part of some citizens to take advantage of the freedmen in the formation and construction of their contracts, referred to in my former reports, is manifesting itself in more numerous instances as the Autumn approaches. Some laborers are discharged by their employers, without pay for the labor already performed, under a pretext that the laborer has violated his contract. In some cases there is due to the laborer when discharged, a sum considerably above fifty dollars; but as this amount is the extent of a magistrate's jurisdiction, he is obliged to bring suit in a court or record and wait the lapse of months for a judgment, or credit the employer with all due him above the sum mentioned. There are other cases in which the laborer is discharged without pay, by employers who are virtually insolvent, having all their property covered with mortgages or deeds of trust." In such cases there is no remedy in the statutes of the State, and I would respectfully recommend that the Legislature be requested to give the laborer a lien on the crops he cultivates, as mechanics have a lien on the structures they build. 

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-05 11:40:32