"Now den what is yer gemman gwine ter side erbout dese drounded corpses?" asked the coroner. There was a long painful pause when a very venerable negro confronted the coroner with this enquiry;
"I rises to a question ob pribilige sar. I wishes to quire, ef a crowbar mout be er witniss in his own beharf, sar?"
"Sartanly sar, sartanly," answered the coroner:
"How is yer agwine to swar hit?" he continued.
"Now yer oversizes my siggassity sar; yer axes pine blank" said the coroner, raising his spectacles with great dignity, "'How dis jurer is agwine to swar a crowbar;' is dat hit?"
"Yas sar," replied the negro.
"What sez yer gemman ob de jurer to dis qustun," asked the coroner. After laying their heads together, a juror pompously observed.
"Dat he hed seed a horg crost questuned in de kote, und he convicted de prisner."
"Were he a white man?" the jury asked.
"No sar, dat time de prisoner was a cullud gemman sar."