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1268

B.R.F & A. Lds
Office of Ast. Supt. Sub. Dist. of Lynchburg Va
Jany 31st 1867

Bvt. Brig. Genl. O Brown
A.A.A.G. Deptmt of the Potomac.

General:
In compliance with the requirements of circular No 10, dated Hd. Qurs. Ast. Comr. State of Va. Mch 12th 1866, I have the honor to report that there were no freedmen tried for crime at this term of the County Court of Amherst, or the Hustings Court of this City. Other duties, prevented my attending, Appomattox and Campbell Courts. I know that there were no cases at Nelson Court, in which injustice could well be done. The parties in jail were caught in the act, for which they were being held. The freedmen, are treated by the local authorities of this place, with a degree of fairness which surprised me. I witnessed a fracas between a white and Cold. man, in which the latter would have been shot down like a dog, but for the interference of the police, for trying to ward off an unprovoked blow, made at him by the white man.

My experience has been, in the Country, that few if any Constables would have interferred at all, & in the event of the Cold. man's having been shot, it would have been declared justifiable homicide, and the white man honorably acquitted. The Mayor bound this man over to keep the peace.

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-04-28 14:02:05 Hustings Court