The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1897-05-07
My First Case.

Chancellor Graham, looking first a
my parchment and then at me, appar
emily wondering how the faculty coult
have done it, solemnly said "let hin
be sworn" I secretly pitied his evi
dent lack of perception, for in thos
days l felt my legal learning creeping
from every pore and was sure that il
clearly appeared, to even the casua
observer, that in me they beheld al
old practitioner. I had my diploms
from law school and now having
been sworn in as an attorney and
counsellor at law and solicitor in
chancery, felt competent to undertake
the defense of the humblest darkey
entangled in the meshes of the law by
reason of fondness for fresh pork, OF
the impeachment of the chief justice.
[ had located in the town of P. q
small county seat some thirty miles
from rail road or telegraph station,
and was ready to practice on the first
thing that turned up; but clients
seemed wary and l had nearly con-
cluded that the lltigating public were
unable to distinguish the difference
between pettifogger and first cl ass
lawyer. I should have observed that
in the village there were three or four
old attorneys let in under the enabling
act, who practiced law as an adjunct
to various other enterprises, such as
farming, merchandising and preach
ing, whore libraries consisted of CEN
sus and agricultural reports, in odd
volumes, a few stray state reports, of
ancient date, and most important of
| all, small, much worn, book entitled
mississippi form book, for the use of
justices OF the peace"
was wondering, one day whether I
had better revise Blackstone or get a
new digest of the state reports when
there came knock at my door. Half
burying my head in the biggest law
book at hand, sung out "come in."
In walked an old, tattered negro who
had seen better times, else providence
had been too busy to notice him.
"Mornin' boss, Perkin 5 my name,
dough folks mostly call me uncle Bill.
heared 'em say as how dere wus er
new lawyer in town an I thought I'd
cum an see if you could hep me sum"
[ requested him to sit down and tell
me the trouble and he began: "Well
boss, its dis er way: Long las fall
Squire Logan gin me a 'vorce frum
Indy Justices OF the peace, frequent
ly in the backwoods of the south, give
negroes divorces, or rather what pur-
ports to be such) an he lowed fer me
to tax Silas, an 'Lindy to tax Liza,
dem wur our two chillen, an fer me to
pay de cos er go to Jail. [ took an
paid him de fo' dollars an thurty
cents, an we dun lax he tole us. l
TUX Silas an went to work on de
shur's on de Powl place. After I'd
bin dere mont er two I went an mar
ried a trihin gal name Susan Mitchell !,
an dis spring lef Silas wild Susan
an went wild de white folks down in
de swamp ter git out cross ties fer de
rale rode whut dey said wus comm ,
but TUX sick wild de chills an fever
an had ter cum back.
Now boss I'm cum in to de sorrerful-
ist part OBJ de tale; would you b'leve it
people! but dat yaller varmant, Susan
had dun TUX an lef the Powl place an
move down on de Kingly place, an
when went dere she he'd dun tux up
wild er niger name Dick Turner, er-
po' low down trifin houn'; an she
fused to gin me up Silas; an Dick he
cum out an lowed, he did, dat ef l
did'n G. way frum dere dat he'd bus
me wide open, an he KEEP cay'n on so
dat l lowed ter have de law on him,
dat is eff day is any law in dis lam.
Boss, 1 brung you ten dollarsQ did my
best to keep him from observing my
excitement and succeeded, as he was
needless of all, but his case) an I wan
you to git me dat chile an put de law
to 'em.
The first thing that flashed over my
mind was a writ of habeas corpus, but
that remedy was out of the question
as it would have taken several times
ten dollars to have reached the chan
cellor and secured the writ. Black
stone, Chitty, and Greenleaf passed in
rapid succession before my mind. sure
ly they must have overlooked such an
important emergency. Telling the
old darkey to come back in half an
hour I put on my thinking cap and
pulled it further than ever before down
over my ears.
Why hadn't thought of it before! |!
| A writ of replevin, of course will lie.
I remembered that property interest
in negroes had, some twenty years pre-