Viewing page 37 of 255

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Bureau of R.F. & A.L. Hd. Qurs. Asst. Sub. Asst. Commissioner
3rd Div. 8th Sub Dist. Va. Christiansburg Va. September 25th 1867
Capt. Garrick Mallery USA.
A.A.A.Genl.
Captain - I have the honor to make the following report of the administration of Civil Justice in the Counties composing this Division (Montgomery, Pulaski, & Giles) for the past month.
As far as I can learn, and have been able to judge, full and impartial justice has been administered, to all persons irrespective of race or color, by both magistrates and courts with the exception of a single instance, in which a magistrate of Giles County, dismissed the case of a colored man, and required him to pay the cost; when, if I am properly informed, the decision should have been rendered in favor of the colored man, at least, part, if not all the amount claimed by him from the party prosecuted. The facts are these: Mr Peters, late of Giles County Va. a short time previous to his death, engaged Johnson George "Cold." to cut rails and build him a good fence 'round a certain portion of his land. After the work was commenced Mr. Peters was suddenly deprived of his life - when the colored man not willing to work at an uncertainty -
over -