Viewing page 178 of 255

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

2

operation of this rule, I beg leave to call your attention to the following case

On the ____ a colored boy (Walter Hatcher by name) made complaint and information before me, that while on his way from Farmville, to his house (about five miles in the country) he was overtaken by three coloured men, who assaulted him with a Pistol, and took from him a coat and a bucket containing several pounds of sugar.  I immediately took his statement, and sent the case to B.W.L. Blanton, J.P. of Cumberland Co., whom I learned would not attend Cumberland Court on the following day, which was the regular court day.  I was anxious to have the facts in this case investigated, and urged, that immediate action be taken, presuming of course, that the charge being a serious one, that he (Blanton) would not sit alone in the case, and notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of both the accused and his employer, to defer the examination until the following day, when he (Blanton) could have an associate Justice, he peremptorily refused, ordered the trial to proceed and after hearing the testimony, which clearly betrayed the absence of any proof connecting Green, with the offence, refused bail, and committed Green to Jail, to await trial at this term of court, - Blanton claiming, that as Green had been charged with an offence, punishable with confinement, in the 

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-05-06 14:20:10