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5

The defendant: after having been duly sworn was examined as follows,  By the Court;

Q State all you know about this agreement between you and the plaintiffs wife, and anything else you know, in connection with this complaint.

A Soon after the fall of Richmond I stated to all my women servants, including the wife of the plaintiff, that they were free to leave my premises or to remain, having been my slaves. I was not disposed to drive them away, but if they chose to remain with me, I would do the same part by them that I had always done. That is I would feed and clothe them and pay for medical attendance for them when sick in all respects as I had done formerly. They told me that they had no intention of leaving me, that they intended to stay with me and work as they had done formerly, and the wife of the plaintiff, in particular, remarked afterword, when some of the other women were leaving, that they were great fools for doing so, it was perfectly understood that I did not regard their work worth more than the cost of their board and clothing and the payment of medical attendance when sick. No application was ever made to me by plaintiffs wife at any time for pay. I had no intimation of her intention to leave me until the day before she left; on that day the plaintiff asked me what I was going to allow his wife for her services while she was with me, I told him I dident expect to pay her anything that I dident think her services worth more than I

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