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Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
Letter from Henderson Walker to Francis Nicholson
Walker, Henderson, ca. 1659-1704
October 10, 1699
Volume 01, Pages 513-514

May it please Yor Excellency.

I received from Mr Fowler acct of yor Excellency's care in Bray's business and return you our hearty thanks And as to what Mr Fowler

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intimates concerning runaways however the matter may have been misrepresented to yor Excellency I assure you yt neither our laws nor practise deserves such an imputation of evil neighbourhood neither are there any runaways harbored here yt we can discover upon diligent enquiry nor shall any such thing be suffered so far as it is in our power to prevent it We have (besides statutes against Vagrants) a particular law yt injoyns all persons on a penalty to apprehend runaway Negros and prohibits ye harboring of them on ye penalty of ten shillings every night over & above all damage yt can be proved & I purpose to recommend it to ye next Assembly if any thing may be done more effectually to prevent such a mischief Not long ago information was made to me & ye Council that one Grand at ye Sand-banks had entertained some persons suspected to be runaways from Esqr Corbin for which he now stands bound over to ye next Generall Court I myself at my own charge sent as far as Pamplico after those runaways and since here advice yt some of ym died by famine in ye uninhabited part of this Government And I believe many other yt fly this way are lost after ye same or such like manner endeavoring to escape to S. Carolina. I thankfully accept of yor Excelcys papers of public news by Col. Quary and assure yor Excelcy yt we desire nothing more than to mentaine a right understanding between these Govermts And it shall always be the care of Yor Excellency's

most humble Servant
HENDERSON WALKER


October ye 10th 1699.

I heartily congratulate yor Exceles recovery and if your Excelcy hath occasion for timber or any thing else that may be serviceable to you please to command your humble servant

H. W.