The Negro Lawyer.
305
THE NEGRO LAWYER. BY WILLIAM TYREE. THE acuteness of the negro lawyer in the New South—for he is distinctly a product of the New South—and his keen insight into human nature, especially that of the white man, is well illustrated by the fol lowing incident: In one of our Southern cities a warrant had been sworn out against a negro girl who had served in her young mistress' family as her maid, for stealing a very handsome even ing dress which had only been worn a very few times and which the girl greatly ad mired. The girl was indicted, and in due course of time the case came to the City Court for trial. There happened to be in the city a negro attorney who was recognized by both white and colored citizens as an exceptionally bright negro, and him the girl retained as counsel. As the day -of the trial approached he was asked by many of his white friends if he would not prefer a jury composed of both white and colored men to sit upon the case, and to them all he gave the same answer, that he wanted a jury made up of white men entirely, influential citizens, and, if possible, former slave owners. When the evidence had gone to the jury, and a verdict of guilty seemed inevitable, the attorney for the accused arose, 'mid perfect silence, and addressed the Court as follows: "May it please your Honor and gent'men of de jury," and he leaned slightly over the desk in front of him toward the twelve men who sat opposite. "I propose to show you dat dis gal had no intention whatever of stealin' dis dress. While we admit dat she was found wid dis dress in her possession, she did not intend to steal dis dress. Gent' men, de circumstances are dése. Dis gal
was invited to a party, and she had no party dress to wear; she knew dat her young mistiss had a wardrobe full of dresses, and she thought it would be no harm fur her to go to dat wardrobe and teck down one of them dresses and wear it to de party, intending to bring dat dress back in de mornin,' after de party; bresh it nicely and hang it back in de wardrobe whar it belonged, jest as if it had never been tecken out of thar; and her young mistiss would know nothin' 'bout it. But unfortunately, gent'men, dis culled gal was belated in gettin' home from de party, and when she walked in in de mornin', her young mistiss was up and caught her wid de dress on. "Now, gent'men, if dis gal had not been belated, as I have stated, de dress would have been back in its place and nobody would have been hurt. Now I ask you gent'men of de jury, as I know each and ev'y one of you has owned niggers, ef you haven't had, at some time durin' your life, your bodyservant teck out of you' wardrobe or trunk, some of you' clothes and wear dem clothes off and return dem clothes to their place. Gent'men, you all never considered dat stealin', and I am satisfied, gent'men of de jury, you don't believe dat dis heah gal," and he turned around to his client, "intended to steal dat dress. "In view of the facts, gent'men, as I have stated dem I leave dis case in your hands, and believe dat your verdict will be one of acquittal for de accused. The negro sat down amid much laughter. In a few minutes the jury filed into the court room, the foreman pronouncing the verdict: "After considering all the evidence in the casé, we find the accused not guilty."
