On my return from Cahpel Hill yesterday I met Col. J. Bryan Grimes and he told me that he thought that the Council of State had been discussing and in fact had decided to take the convicts away from us and distribute them among the other rail roads having convicts.

I am therefore writing to ask you if such action has been taken and to also ask that we be heard before the convicts are removed.

From all the information that I can get, and I believe it to be reliable, it now looks as if we will have our money, or the contracts to secure same, within the next thirty days and it would be a great hardship for us to so nearly reach our goal and then have our work of years destroyed by the removal of the convicts.

I sincerely hope that no action has been taken and trust that you can see your way clear and in conformity with the best interests of the people of the State, to allow us to retain the few convicts we have and thereby enable us to complete our financial negotiations which have covered a period of several years and which now seem about to be terminated to the building of the only really competing and State controlled railroad that enters North Carolina.