Local Matters- Attempt to Kill by A Negro.

Without adequate resources for survival and struggles to find employment, many blacks resort to criminal action for food and other essentials.

On Thursday last, a negro named "W. Reardon went into the store of Mrs. Frank, on the Mechanicsville pike, and made a small purchase. He then said that he had no money, and finding, by questioning Mrs. Frank, that her husband was up stairs, he caught hold of her and shook her violently. Mrs. Frank succeeded in getting away, and ordered Reardon out of the store, when he seized a log of wood and endeavored to strike her on the head. The lady screamed, and the negro was arrested by some neighbors. On yesterday, Reardon was examined and sentenced to sixty days' imprisonment; but as he appeared to be of unsound mind, it was determined to return him to North Carolina. The Freedmen's Bureau "kindly" furnished the necessary transportation.

“Local Matters- Attempt to Kill by A Negro.,” Reconstructing Virginia, accessed July 4, 2022, https://reconstructingvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/137.