116 HISTORY OP THE GRANGE MOVEMENT ; OR, 



hitherto calm, grew flushed and anxious. But he 

 answered at last, ' The left side, sir.' ' Will you swear 

 positively to that also?' ' Yes, sir; I swear positively 

 to it.' ' Now, sir,' resumed the lawyer, ( do you not 

 know that a man of Mr. Coleman's breadth in that 

 narrow car-aisle would completely fill it, so that neither 

 two men nor one could stand at his side, as you swear 

 they did?' Flustered, but not daunted, the witness 

 explained, ' The men were a little back of Mr. Cole- 

 man;' and witness quitted the stand, leaving the court 

 to meditate on the strange spectacle of a man curving 

 his giraffe-like neck, and fastening his teeth in the left 

 arm of a man who stood on his left side, and a ' little 

 back of him ! ' 



" Several other honest witnesses gave similar testi- 

 mony as to the biting, and as to the violent behavior of 

 the plaintiff, and the gentle but firm deportment of the 

 railroad men ; these latter struck no blows, but several 

 were delivered by the plaintiff. The harmony of the 

 witnesses was beautiful. They seemed to have beheld 

 the scenes which they described with a single eye : as 

 to the biting, the arm bitten, and the position of the 

 biter, their agreement was perfect. At this stage of the 

 proceedings a recess was taken. On the reassembling 

 of the court, other witnesses for the railroad were ex- 

 amined ; but, strange to say, not one of them could give 

 any particular information as to the biting; they swore 

 that Mr. Coleman did bite, but though they had en- 

 joyed the same opportunities for observation with their 

 predecessors on the stand, they 'couldn't exactly remem- 

 ber the details.' Such is the effect of lunch. 



"The conductor told a plausible story, modelled 

 carefully on my own statement, but differing in certain 



