
    Case No. 15,859.
    UNITED STATES v. NEALE.
    [2 Cranch, C. C. 241.] 
    
    Circuit Court, District of Columbia.
    April Term, 1821.
    Witness—Competenct—Free Negbo.
    A free colored man who has resided in this district eight years, and publicly acted as a freeman, and so generally reputed to be, is a competent witness for the United States against a free colored person.
    Indictment for assault and battery.
   THE COURT

permitted Edward Pleasants, a black man, to be sworn as a witness for the United States, after proof that he had publicly lived and acted as a freeman for eight years, and was generally reputed to be free.  