The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1866-08-21

cial powers 10 both civil and criminal cases, aud
| in the discharge of these arbitrary and dan
gerous functions, frequently arrest and lmprlson
| respectable citizens upon mere rumor
Ten of the thirty five agents in this State are
citizen planters One of them, Col McCon-
naehe, agent in Thornton county, was formerly
Colonel, in the rebel army and was appointed
an agent of the bureau by General Gregory,
then assistant commissioner for the State, while
still unpardoned.
So far as we saw, or were able to get lntor-
nation in Texas, tine freedmen were working
we'll and the crops were promising The wages
paid-all the payments being made 10 specie
were better than in any other department
Summary.
In pursuing this Investigation, which has
now extended over four months We have found
extreme difficulty i'll complying with that por-
ton of our instructions which requires us to
report upon the operations of the bureau and
its mode of admnist ration. The bureau has
no aettled mode OF administration. There is
an entire absence of system or uniformity In Its
constitution In one State its officers exercise
judicial powers, in adjoining State all cases
are referred to the civil authorities; while in a
third State the bureau officers collect the cases
and turn them over to the military provost
courts to dispose of. In some departments the
officers Of the bureau have attempted to regu-
late the rate of wages; one form of contract
between employer and employed is prescribed
in one State, while in another a ditfereot form
is adupted In Louisiana the expenses OF the
frccdmen's schools have been wholly paid by
the government; in the other States the schools
are partially selfsupporting, and in Texas they
are entirely So In some localities the bureau
-b; ;fy, hctu p1ap torc
and the freedmen in favor of the freedmen; in
other localities the bureau is used as means
of eoercing the freedmen in favor OF the planter
The expenditure of the bureau varies as much
as its mode of administration. In one State
the expenses are over three hundred Thousand
dollars a year; in another State, with an equal
population, the expenses are not more than fifty
thousand In some States the expenses have
been met by taxes levied on and collected from
the people; in other States the cost is entirely
borne by the United States Treasury.
The official port of Colonel Reno, United
Suites army Provost Marshall General of the
Bureau of Louisiana, shows deficit of up
wards of seven thousand dollars in the accounts
of the officers who engaged 10 the collect
ing of taxes in New Orleans, which deficit Col.
Reno says he is unable to explain N couse-
oucnce of the loose manner in which the books
were kept.
We are of the opinion that at the close OF
the war, and for time after the cessation
Of hostiltics, the Freedmen's Bureau did good
The people Of the South, having at first no faith
in the negroes working, under free labor sys-
TEN, were DESTROYS of getting rid of them, and
during the summer Of 1865 judicious bureau
and military officers did much toward restoring
order and harmony, and inducing the people Of
the South to resume the cultivation Of their
plantations hy employing the freedmen. Be
fore the close of 1865 there entire reyo-
luton in the sentiments Of the people Of the
South with regard to negro labor. y feeling
Of kindness sprang up towards the freedmen
resulting. perhaps, mainly from the conviction,
that his tabor was desirable, profitable and the
only labor to be had.
Tie necessity of the bureau then ceased
Since then, while it has been benz fetal in some
localities, it has been productive. in the aggre
gate Of more harm than good. 1t has occa-
stoned aud will pcrpetuate discord as long as it
exists, though administered by the puroot and
wisest Of the nation. The freedmen regard
its presence evidence that they would be
safe without it, and the white people consider
it imputaton upon the official action of all
their courts and magistrates, as we'll as upon
the private conduct Of their citizens. Both
races thus made suspicious and bitter by an
agency which, in the present reorganized condi-
ton Of civil government and society in the
Southern States, is poweGless to advance the in Il
terests of either.
TERRIBLE TRAGEDY.-The Lnneus (Mo J
Union says that Tuesday last a terrible
tragedy was enacted in their unusually quiet
town:
On the evening previous little white girl,
daughter Of Mr.. Stutsman, had been ravished
by negro. The girl is only ten or eleven
years of age. She was severely but net dan
gerouS4y Injured by the brutal fellow in at
tempting to accomplishing his hellish purpose
Henry Thomas, or Tennessee Bill was arrested
on suspicion of being the iendish perpetraor of
the crime. He denied the crime tehemently
or having been out of town in that direction.
To give him as fair show as possible, he was
placed on bench vita eight or ten other ne
gros, and when the little girl was hroueh t to
face them, she Instantly and without the least
hesitation pointed out the fellow who had been
arrested as the guilty party. This was con-
elusive and satisfactory evidence Of his guilt,
and would have justified any jury in the land
In consigning him to the gallows.
The negro was placed under guard Having
made a full confession of his crime, it was deem
ed unadvSable to longer defer the infection of
a punishment which he so richly deserved The
negro was marched to the grove just east of
town, rope Was properly adjusted around his
neck, the other end passed over the limb of
convenient tree, and in the next .momeat his
black carcass wss dangling in the air, fitting
e X pation for an atrocous crime.
INDIAN TROUBLES -Leavenworth, Aug l.
The Indians made raid upon the settlements