The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-20
A perspicuons Witness.

The scene reported below occurred be-
fore the. circuit court of Pittsylvanis
county, Virginia, in the case of Oom.
monTealth VS.. Cassidy, on o charge o1
| malicious stabbing. The venue belno
impaneled and the jury solemnly charg
ed by the clerk, the Commonwealth
attorney called, in support of the in.
dictment, the witness, Buck Briant,
who, being soIemnly sworn the truth to
tell, testified as follows:
| Question by the Commonwealth at
torney-Iell all you know about the
| cutting of the prosecutor by Cassidy,
| the prisoner at the bar.
Answer-Well, gentleman, it was
election day; twas dark, cloudy, wet
| sort of adrig6ly day, and says to my old
woman, l believe / will go down to
Einggold and 'posit my vote. And,
says my old woman to me, well, Buck,
as it is a sort of dark. cloudy, wet sort
of drizZl7 day, says she, hadn't you
better take the umbrill9 Says l to the
old woman, 'speet had better take
the umb1ilI. 80 took the umbriIl and
advanced on down towards Ringgold ;
and when I got down thar Mr.. Cole
coined, and, says he, Uncle Buck, have
you seed anything of neighbor Harris =?
Says to Mr.. Cole, for why? Says he,
he's got my umbrill.
The witness was here interrupted by
the court and told to confine himself TO
the actual fray between the prisoner and
Cole, the prosecutor.
In answer to this the witness remark
ed, in a tone of indignant remonstrauce:
"Well now, Mr.. Judge, you hold on,
or / am sworn to tell the truth, and
m gwine to tell it my own way-so
taint worth while for you to say moth
in about it.
Whereupon the Commonwealth at
torney, being anxious to get rid of the
witness upon any terms, told him to go
on and tell the story his own way.
Well, l was gOin' on to say. twas on
election day; Buchanan and Film0 was
running for the legislature, and says I
to my old woman, believe I'll go down
to Ringgold and 'posit my vote. Says
my old woman to me, says she, Buck,
as it is a sort of dark, rainy drizzly
sort of a day, hadn't you better take
yOur umbrill ? says she. Says l to my
old woman, 'spect l had better take
my umbrill so I took the umbrill and
advanced towards Ringgold until arriv
thar. Well, the first think I did when
got thar was to take drink of Buch-
anan whisky, which was mOnstrous good,
and, says to myself, says /, Old Hoss
yOu feel better now, don't you? And
while I was advancing around, Mr..
Cole, he came to me, and says he, Uncle
Buck, have you seen anything of old
neighbor Harris? Says !, for why?
Says he, the old man has got my UNI
brill. After while posted my vote,
and then Mr.. Cole aud me advanced
back toward home, and Mr.. Cole was
tighter than ever seed him. And SO
We advanced till we got whar the road
and path forked, and we tuck the path,
as any other gentlemen would, and arter
advancing while we arriv to old neigh
Dor Harris sitting on log with the um-
brill on his arm, and about that time
Elijah Cassidy (the prisoner) coined up,
and we advanced on till we arriv at
Eliiah's house. Elijah is my neffew and
likewise my son-in law. He married my
darter Jane, which is next to Sally.
Arter we had advanced to Eliiah's
house, we stood in the yard q while
jawln' and presently two somebody's rid
up ON horse, which was johnson and
Whitfield, Cassidy behind; Whitfield
and Kiah Cassidy being the same. Kiah
wa drunk, and he and Mr.. Cole got to
cussin' one another about pOlitix and
advanced into the house whar was Eli
jah's wife, which is my darter Jane.
Well, arter jawin' awhile with 'em, my
little neffew, says he, Uncle Buck, let's
go home. Says ], good, pop, so We
pegged out together. And that's all /
know about the stabbing, for I warn't
tIsra 7"