The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1865-12-09
(From the st. Louis Reputliean.)
MORE ABUSES RY THE FREED
MEMS BUREAU.

A late number OF paper published Mt
Shreveport, contains the information that
Judge Wecms, of the Tenth District off
Louisiana, and Sheriff Alder, of one oil
tho counties OF that District. have been
placed under arrest by n petty potentate
who abuses the functions of agent Of the |
Frcedmcn's Bureau for that region HisI
reason for putting them in durance seems
to be that the one presumed to arrest, and
tho other to try negro who had been
guilty Of horse stealing. Chaplain Gala
han, whom they 80 grossly offended by
their act aud who investigated the q out
rage" they committed, made report up
on it, the aHin,us of which is contained in
the following extract
| II is no gari Of tho design of the bureau
10 interfere with the business Of Judge
Weems Court. except in manner eousern.
plated in this case. White men may sue
each other before him as much MS they please,
and we will not say word. They may sell
each other out Of house and home by deerees
from under his hand, and, go far as this Bu,
reau is concerned, Il will be all right HeI
may imprison and hang as many white men
as he plenses, and no opposition will be rails
ed by US, but he must not touch negro.
The enormous stretch Of authority the
agent has indulged in, is 20 apparent TO
our readers, that We need not offer even
suggestion to that end. il is without "A
shadow Of right or reason, even IL Judge
Weems were the worst rebel in the land
because tho latter was in the exercise Of
the plain judicial duty of trying crimi-
nal, against whom the commission Of fel-
ony was charged But the agent has not
even the poor make-shift of an excuse ),
i that Judge Wecms was sympathizer
with the rebels in their late war against
the government TO urge as prctext for
his arrest. 1t happens to be, on tho con-
trary, that he is u gentleman Of known
personal worth, high legal attainmcnts,
and that, during the last four years, he
adhered with unialtcring fidelity to the
4 Union, when all around him failed in the
obligations that patriotism enjoined. The
lagent's motive, therefore, was one Of will
ful wrong, or one which grows out of that
utter oblivion Of right aud justice which
fanaticism inspires.
4 There are scores Of such people as this
agent located throughout the South, as
officer, real or pretended, Of the Freed
mems Bureau, and who might make mis-
chief ad tititan,, by encouraging and pro-
tecting negroes in lawlessness, and insult
ing aud tyrannizing over the whites. Very
few Of them are men who possess sense
land discretion proper for their position,
while very many are fanatics Of the mania
cal stamp, or veritable scaInps, who exer-
cised low or discrcditable employlnents
lanterior to the war. Some Of these who
arc ignorant of all professions, and peculi-
arly so OF that of law, are set up as arbi-
ters between blacks and whites, in social
ed Freedmen's Courts, and assess punish
ments and judgments with forms Of pro-
cedure that shame the jurisprudence Of
Judge Lynch himself. In one such Court,
recently, u Tennessee, negro wench
swore the paternity of her brood Of SIX
children toAher former master; aud the
latter, without even being allowed to tray
erse her statement, was ordered to pro-
vide support id future for the whole FAM
lily, at an expense of many hundred dol
lars = year. In ease he defaulted in pay
Z ment, his lands were to be seized and sold, !,
and the proceeds applied to carry out the
lorder of the Court. Another Freedman's s
Judge, who opened Court in Georgia,
proclaimed that the freedom of the slaves
dated from the day on which President
Lincoln issued his proclamation of eman-
lcipation, and that they were entitled to
recover from their owners for all work
done up to the time they quit their mas
ter's plantations. The negroes in his sub
district forthwith proceeded to make the
most of this opportunity, and went to
Court to register and swear to claims in
Just such amounts as they pleased The
agent then catered judgment for them,
aud warned the masters to pay up within
a week, or take such consequences of lev
les on their property, or imprisonment, as
he chose to bestow.
| Another fragrant case, which transpired
only few days ago, is authenticated by
a special message of Mayor Tompert, of
Louisville, to the City Council of that
city, dated on the 28th ult.:
On the 22d instant / re.
lceived communication No. u from H. A.
McCalcb, Lieutenant Colonel and Superin.
tendent of the Freedmcn's Bureau for the
] city, stating that freedwoman was lying
dead at the Freedmen and Refugees Home,
on Broadway, between Eighteenth and Nine
, teenth streets, within the corporation limits
of the city, and that, as the Government had
declined burying any more of that class, he
lexpected the city authorities to do so. an
swered, stating that was not authorized un-
der the circumstances to nse the funds of the
city or its credit for such purposes; that
i such expenditure would be from my own
purse, and that I was unwilling and unable
to meet it. The same day received COM
munication from Gen. Palmer, commanding
the Department of Kentucky, In which he
refers to the case, and, in terms uncompli.
nlentary and unmerited, declares his inten.
8 ton to bury said freedwoman and to charge
such expense to tho city of Louisville, and to
, compel thelpayment of bills IN this case and
all similar cases. Since then have receiv-
! ed two other communications tlnarked four
! and fiye) informing me of other deaths, and
other debts of the city IN consequence. ]
hold that as the freedmen were brought here
without the consent of the AUTHORITIES, and
in direct violation Of the laws of the State,
the Government is the party responsible fol
their presence here and is bound to bury such
J as die here. The expenses in case of an epi.
demic among them would be enormous.
8 Such calamity is not improbable, as great
4 numbers of them are huddled together in the
city living in filth, and altogether breathing
an atmosphere of pestilence.