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252

253
Bureau Refugees, Freedmen and Aban'd Lands
Office Sub Comm. Dist. of Meridian
Meridian, Miss.  December 31, 1866

Bv't Major A.W. Preston
A.A.A. Gen. Bu. R. F. and A.L.
Vicksburg, Miss.

Major,
I have the honor to submit herewith my report for the month of December 1866.

A larger number of [[strikethrough]] Freedmen [[/strikethrough]] complaints by freedmen than would have [[illegible]] during the present month been made [[strikethrough]] [[illegible]] [[/strikethrough]] at this office as to violation of contract, illegal keeping of minors by former masters [[?]] without consent of parents and the like, in all instances these cases have been referred to the [[strikethrough]] civ [[/strikethrough]] local magistrates, [[strikethrough]] but from the [[/strikethrough]] or [[strikethrough]] to [[/strikethrough]] lawyers, as the case might be, but from the fact that the freedmen as a general thing are poor and cannot [[strikethrough]] therefore [[/strikethrough]] afford to prosecute their claims by law, [strikethrough] many of them [[/strikethrough]] especially for amts less than $20, lawyers not being willing [[strikethrough]] to take a case for [[/strikethrough]] to charge less than $25 fee, most of such cases all involving moneyed claims have remained unsettled and must result in the actual loss of what they

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-06-27 08:39:08 because it was not complete It's surprising how many strikethroughs there are since this is a synopsis of a whole letter.