FREED BY A WITTY RETORT.
Few if any judges can be severe with a prisoner who has made them laugh. Just why this should be so is a problem for the psychologists, but that such is the case can be testified to by any one who has much to do with the courts. A case in point occurred not long ago in Centre Street Police Court. An old darkey had been arraigned on a charge of shooting craps. ‘ ’Deed, Jedge, I didn’t shoot no craps, ’ protested the prisoner. ‘ How about it, officer ? ’ asked the court. ‘ I saw him with my own eyes, ’ said the policeman. ‘ No, no, Jedge, ’still protested the darky, ‘ he didn’t see me shootin’ no craps; I wasn’t’ playin’, ’deed 1 wasn’t. ’ ‘ Now, look here, ’ said the Magistrate, ‘ which am I to believe ? The officer swears positively he saw you playing, and you swear equally as positively that you were not. What am I to do ? ’ The prisoner evidently appreciated the unfortunate position of the court. He scratched his head in perplexity, heaved a long sigh, and said : ‘Wall, I dunno, Jedge we all has our troubles. ’ He was discharged.
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Bibliographic details
Southern Cross, Volume 8, Issue 34, 15 December 1900, Page 3
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193FREED BY A WITTY RETORT. Southern Cross, Volume 8, Issue 34, 15 December 1900, Page 3
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