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At the November term of the County court of Rockbridge a colored man was indeed sent to the penitentiary for a year for stealing a pair of shoes from another negro. His sentence appears a severe one, but he had just been released from jail where he had been confined for having stolen, and, by the laws of Virginia, the second offense of this character calls for imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than one year

But another case that came up at the same court is positive evidence that the Freedmen can have the privileges guaranteed them by the laws. A notoriously bad young negro, who is known to have [[strikethrough]] maliciously [[/strikethrough]] willfully killed one of his own color in 1865, was in the early part of the month caught under the sheets in bed with a young white lady aged about fourteen years who lives near Lexington. The indictment charges him with administering chloroform and attempting to commit a rape. He was brought to jail and lodged there, and afterwards brought to trial in open court, the room being partly filled by students. Having no counsel the court directed Maj Dorman and Maj Gelliott, two of the best lawyers at the bar, to defend him at the expense of the State. The former declined on the grounds of intimacy with the family of the young lady, which is one of the most respectable in the State, but the latter accepted the charge and, on a technicality, had the case postponed until the April term of the Circuit Superior Court. For reasons which you can readily appreciate I had feared an outbreak on the part of the students and the hot-headed young men of the town, but none occurred, and the best order was preserved during all the proceedings.

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-05-10 17:34:55