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Bureau R. F and Abandoned Lands.
Office Asst. Sub. Asst. Comr Sub Dist No 8. 7" Dist Va
Lexington Va April 30th 1867

Bvt. Brig Genl O. Brown Asst. Com. State of Virginia

General
In accordance with Circular No 10. Hd. Qrs Asst. Com State of Va dated Richmond Va March 12th 1866, I have the honor to make the following report of how the transfer of criminal cases in which Freedmen are parties from the Freedmans Bureau courts to the civil courts have affected the interests of the Freedmen in the counties of Rockbridge, Bath & Alleghany, or the month of April 1867.

In the preliminary investigations, in the examinations before justices and in the lower in magisterial courts the Freedpeople labor under a number of disadvantages, most of which I have enumerated in my previous Reports, but when their cases come into the higher courts I can see no reason of complaint, excepting what must be expected in the present anomolous state of society in Virginia.

I have indeed heard it said that the verdicts are more severe against them than against whites in the less grievous crimes such as stealing, for which some of them have been sentenced to the penitentiary for from two to three years, but I cannot say that this is the case for I have no means of comparison as no white person has been tried for similar offenses since my arrival here. There is undoubt

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