Autobiography of a Female SlaveBrowne, Martha Griffith
History
Autobiography of a Female Slave
Browne, Martha Griffith
African American women -- Fiction; Didactic fiction; Enslaved women -- Fiction; Kentucky -- Fiction; Slavery -- Fiction
Two of them I particularly noticed, as I sat in the prisoner's dock,
awaiting the "coming up of my case." One of them the Court frequently
addressed as Mr. Spear, and a very pointless spear he seemed;--a little,
short, chunky man, with yellow, stiff, bristling hair, that stood out
very straight, as if to declare its independence of the brain, and away
it went on its owner's well-defined principle of "going it on your own
hook." He had a little snub of a nose that possessed the good taste to
turn away in disgust from its neighbor, a tobacco-stained mouth of no
particular dimensions, and, I should judge from the sneer of the said
nose, of no very pleasant odor; little, hard, flinty, grizzly-gray eyes,
that seemed to wink as though they were afraid of seeing the truth.
Altogether, it was the most disagreeably-comic phiz that I remember ever
to have seen. To complete the ludicrous picture, he was a
self-sufficient body, quite elate at the idea of speaking "in public on
the stage." His speech was made up of the frequent repetition of "my
client claims" so and so, and "may it please your Honor," and "I'll call
the attention of the Court to the fact," and such like phrases, but
whether his client was guilty of the charge set forth in the indictment,
he neither proved nor disproved.
The other individual whom I remarked, was a great, fat, flabby man,
whose flesh (like that of a rhinoceros) hung loosely on the bones. He
seemed to consider personal ease, rather than taste, in the arrangement
of his toilet; for he appeared in the presence of the court in a pair of
half-worn slippers, stockings "down-gyved," a shirt-bosom much spotted
with tobacco-juice, and a neck-cloth loosely adjusted about his red,
beefish throat. His little watery blue eye reminded me forcibly of
skimmed milk; whilst his big nose, as red as a peony, told the story
that he was no advocate of the Maine liquor law, and that he had "_voted
for license_."
He was said, by some of the bystanders, to have made an excellent speech
adverse to his client, and in favor of the side against which he was
employed.
"Hurrah for litigation," said an animadverter who stood in proximity to
me. After awhile, and in due course of docket, my case came up.
"Has she no counsel?" asked the judge.
After a moment's pause, some one answered, "No; she has none."
I felt a chill gathering at my heart, for there was a slight movement in
the crowd; and, upon looking round, I discovered Mr. Trueman making his
way through the audience. After a few words with several members of the
bar and the judge, he was duly sworn in, and introduced to the Court as
Mr. Trueman, a lawyer from Massachusetts, who desired to be admitted as
a practitioner at this bar. Thus duly qualified, he volunteered his
services in my defence. The look which I gave him came directly from my
overflowing heart, and I am sure spoke my thanks more effectual than
words could have done. But he gave me no other recognition than a faint
smile.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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