Freedmen's Bureau Records: George T. Cook to R. S.
Lacey, July 6, 1866
Summary:
Cook recounts a case where a white man was acquitted in a case of blatant assault
against a young black hotel porter.
Bureau R. F. and A.
L.
Office Asst. Supt.
Sub-Dist.
Va
Captain R. S. Lacy
Supt Seventh Dist.
Va.
July 6th 1866
Staunton Va.
Sir:
I have the honor to submit the following report of the Action taken by Civil Authorities in the following case of Floyd Adams, freedboy, vs. Madison Dooms, white,
Adams is employed as porter at the Virginia Hotel at this place, on the afternoon
of Tuesday the 26th of June 1866, while calling his Hotel
at the Railway Station, an employee of the road named Madison Dooms stepped up
to Adams and after ordering him to leave the platform, according to the
testimony of some witnesses, in the preliminary hearing, before the Mayor of the
town, and according to the testimony of others, without saying anything struck
him a severe blow with a heavy Club
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knocking him down - the affair
created considerable excitement it not being the first instance in which the man
Downs has struck the porters - the proprietors of the Hotel interested
themselves about the affair to such an extent that one of them was bound over to
keep the peace in the sum of $500.
The boy Floyd Adams complained to me and I referred the case to the Mayor of the town, who after hearing the evidence, bound Madison Dooms in the fund of $100 to answer to the Grand Jury. The Grand Jury, who commenced their session on the 4th inst., failed to find any inditement against Dooms, and he was therefore discharged.
The plea in favor of Dooms at the preliminary hearing, was, that he was obeying the instructions of the stationmaster, who had instructed him to keep the platform clear of the Hotel porters, that the platform was the property of the Rail Road Co. Such a plea could not have covered an assault upon a white person.
In my opinion the action of the Grand Jury in discharging Madison Dooms from
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accountability was an act of gross
injustice and the case from its [unclear: prominence] should receive
attention, the jury having literally given the white man permission to knock the
negro down without fear of molestation.
The Corporation Attorney informed me that he furnished the jury with the law and does not know how they came to act as they did.
I am Sir,
Very Respectfully
Your Obt. Servant
Geo. T. Cook
1st Lt 24th V.R.C. & Asst. Supt.
