usly, or ary other
how, murder a human bein'; an' it's my private 'pinion _ye'll_ murder
Mulock, ef ye bring him in guilty uv death.

'A man hain't no right ter take human life, 'cept in self-defence. Even
ef Mulock was so bad as this loryer feller tries ter make him out--but
he hain't, 'cause 'tain't in natur for a man ter be wuss than th' devil
himself--ye'd hev no right to stop his breath. Ye didn't guv it ter him;
it doan't b'long ter ye, an' th' lor doan't 'low ye ter take what hain't
your'n. Ef ye does, it's stealin', an' I knows thet none on the
gintlemen uv the jury ar so allfired mean as ter steal--'ticularly ter
steal whot woan't be uv no sort o' use ter 'em, nohow.

'The loryer yere, hes spread hisself on Mulock's motive fur doin' this
thing; 'sistin' thet fur seventeen yar he's ben a nussin'
suthin--nussin' it as keerfully as a mother nusses her chil'ren. Now,
young 'uns gin'rally walks when they's 'bout a yar old; but this one
thet Mulock's ben a nussin' didn't git 'round till it wus seventeen; an'
I reckon a bantlin' thet karn't gwo alone afore it's thet age, woan't
never do much hurt ter nobody.

'But these hain't th' raal p'ints uv th' case. I'm loryer 'nuff ter tell
ye, ye must gwo on th' evidence; an' thar hain't no evidence ter show
thet Mulock hed anything ter do with th' whippin' uv his wife; an' th'
_murder_ wus in thet. He _did_--so th' nigs say, an' I reckon the' tells
th' truth; an' thet's whot nary loryer kin do ef he try; so ye sees, a
_nig_ is smarter nor a loryer. Wall, the nigs say he holped in whippin'
th' white 'ooman; an', as 'torney fur th' _truth_, gintlemen, which I'm
gwine in fur yere, I've got ter 'low it. He did aid an' 'bet, as the
loryers call it, in thet, an' thet proves him 'bout as mean as a white
man ever gits ter be; an', 'sides thet, he did _sell_ har fur twenty
dollars--a 'ooman thet even th' 'judge'--an' he _ar_ a _judge_ uv sech
things--was willin' ter pay twenty-five hun'red fur; he _did_ sell har
fur _twenty dollars_; an' thet proves him a fool! Now, fur bein' both
mean an' a fool, I 'low he orter be punished. But doan't ye kill him,
gintlemen! Guv it ter him 'cordin' ter his natur an' his merits.' Just
luk at him. Hev ye ever seed sech a face, an' sech an eye as thet, in
ary human bein'? Why, his eye ar jest like a snake's; an' its natural,
ye knows, fur snakes ter crawl; the' karn't do nuthin' else, an' the'
hain't ter blame fur it. No more ye karn't blame Mulock f