l be otherwise disposed of by the commissioner.

"Whenever in any State or district in which the ordinary course of
judicial proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and
wherein, in consequence of any State or local law, ordinance, police
or other regulation, custom, or prejudice, any of the civil rights or
immunities belonging to white persons (including the right to make and
enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit,
purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property,
and to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the
security of person and estate), are refused or denied to negroes,
mulattoes, freedmen, refugees, or any other persons, on account of
race, color, or any previous condition of slavery or involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall
have been duly convicted, or wherein they or any of them are subjected
to any other or different punishment, pains, or penalties, for the
commission of any act or offense, than are prescribed for white
persons committing like acts or offenses, it is to be the duty of the
President of the United States, through the commissioner, to extend
military protection and jurisdiction over all cases affecting such
persons so discriminated against.

"Any person who, under color of any State or local law, ordinance,
police, or other regulation or custom, shall, in any State or district
in which the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been
interrupted by the rebellion, subject, or cause to be subjected, any
negro, mulatto, freedman, refugee, or other person, on account of race
or color, or any previous condition of slavery or involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall
have been duly convicted, or for any other cause, to the deprivation
of any civil right secured to white persons, or to any other or
different punishment than white persons are subject to for the
commission of like acts or offenses, is to be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and be punished by fine not exceeding $1,000 or
imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. It is to be the duty of
the officers and agents of this bureau to take jurisdiction of and
hear and determine all offenses committed against this provision; and
also of all cases affecting negroes, mulattoes, freedmen, refugees, or
other persons who are discriminated against in any of the particulars
mentioned in t