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Office of Asst. Supt. R. F. &. A. L.
Tappahannock, Essex Co. Va.
April 24, 1866.

Capt. T. F. P. Crandon.
A. Q. M. & Supt. R. F. &. A. L.

Captain:
I have the honor to forward the following report through your office to Hd Qrs Asst. Com'r, in compliance with Circular No. 10, dated Hd Qrs Asst. Com'r. March 12./66.

(I have attended a trial in this Sub-Dist. of the Commonwealth against some Freedmen on a charge of threatening the life of one Maj. Saunders. In the trial it was not proven that either of the prisoners (Freedmen) threatened Maj. Saunders life, but that some other Freedmen who have not been arrested did threaten Maj. Saunders life; although the prisoners were held accountable for the bad deeds of an absent party, I have also to report that the prisoners had no witnesses on their part. I enquired of the Magistrates why there were no witnesses on the part of the Freedmen; they said they had asked the Freedmen if they had any witnesses that they wanted summoned, they replied that they had not. I do not think that they knew what a witness was, whether it was going to benefit them or the Commonwealth,

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-04-24 11:14:55 because 1) more than 2 [[?]] remain and 2) the transcriber hit [enter[ after each line of written text. There were also typos/mistakes not to mention trun- cations ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-04-24 17:42:27