'Oh, never mind which,' he answered; 'I shall be much
obliged if the jury will adopt any one of them.'
"You remember, gentlemen, the touching words in which the defendant's
counsel spoke of Bogle: 'He is one of those negroes,' said he,
'described by the author of "Paul and Virginia," who are faithful to
the death, true as gold itself. If ever a witness of truth came into
the box, that witness was Bogle.'
"Well, you have seen him--Old Bogle! What do you think of him? Was
there ever a better specimen of feigned simplicity than he? 'Bogle,'
cries the defendant, after all those years of estrangement, 'is that
_you_?' 'Yes, Sir Roger,' answered Bogle; how do you do?'
"'Do you remember giving me a pipe o' baccy?' asks a poor country
greenhorn down at Alresford. 'Yes,' answers the Claimant. 'Then
you're the man,' says the greenhorn. Such was the way evidence was
manufactured.
"A poor lady--you remember Mrs. Stubbs--had a picture of her
great-great-grandfather's great-grandfather. In goes the Claimant, and
in his artful manner shows his childhood's memory. 'Ah, Mrs. Stubbs,'
says he, looking at another picture, 'that is not the _old_ picture,
is it?' (Somebody had put him up to this.) No, sir,' cries Mrs.
Stubbs, delighted with his recollection--'no, sir; but please to walk
this way into my parlour,' And there, sure enough, was the picture he
had been told to ask for.
Pages:
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250