25

feared if they escaped from the jail which was very
unsecure, that the negroes would do them great mis-
chief if not kill some of them- That of course
furnished no legal excuse for their [ ] and
I only mention it to [ ] for what would
otherwise seem to be a most [ ] [ ]
[ ] of [ ] sympathy. Though the
prisoners were acquitted by the [ ] of the
jury, I hope the trial of the murder case and
the punishment inflicted in the [ ] case will
have a favorable [ ]. I have taken up
so much room in describing this trial be-
cause in the first place it was really a very
important and interesting one, and
the second because I had no other [ ]
of filling my sheet.

Whether I shall be able to get home [ ]
this court is a very [ ] question [ ]
of the cases will be continued for [ ]
[ ] absences, but still a good many will remain
to be tried. If I can leave here Thursday
evening, youo will probably see me on { ]
but if I am detained here longer than that
time, I shall be unable to go. I have just
heard from Amos- one of his children is sick
which will [ ] his being in Raleigh before
Thursday or Friday
While in [ ] I went with the [gentleman?] of
[ ] [ ] to see the [ ] one night . It was rather