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5

to wait at the door, as he would probably be called. I  have heard nothing of the case or the man since. As I have understood, though, that the white party concerned discovered the course the affair was taking; it is not unlikely that he found means to induce the complaint to forego his purposes.

I maintained in my last monthly report obedient to Circular No 6 that a colored man detected in an illicit intercourse with a white pauper at the Poor House, would be indicted by the first Grand Jury. The matter though known to the Grand Jury, through the interest of a certain civil official, was dropped.

It has been observed that very rarely do any cases of colored persons against whites come up before either the county or circuit courts. This is owing almost entirely to the fact that complaints of that class very seldom meet with that just & imparted consideration before the subordinate magistrates, that it is presumed they would [[strikethrough]]before[[/strikethrough]] were they to succeed in getting any higher. There is where the hitch, & just where the great difficulty exists. I am sorry to have it to say, that, as a general thing, the Justices of the peace in my Sub District are not over well informed. They betray their lack of knowledge on almost every occasion when this & the fact that a white person seems to be able to effect whatever he may desire through them; is taken into consideration, it will be seen at a glance, that at their hands, if at no other's the Freedmen stand but a poor chance of obtaining justice. I have never yet known of an instance where a Justice of the Peace has recognized a white man to appear for indictment for an offense, no matter how grave, committed against a colored person. Complaints by the latter, even where they may have been beaten, are almost invariably slighted. This happened in the instance of the man herein before