1852: Acrolectal California CPE
I think there are typographical errors in this quotation…
…As well as a misleading tendency to standardize the spellings and grammar.
Recorder’s Court —Before JUDGE MCGREW
SEPTEMBER 23, 1852.
Assault and Battery. — Achoon in this case was the defendant, Choon-Foke plaintiff. The left visual organ of the latter in deep mourning, evinced that a game of gouge, thrust or tumble had been enacted. Achoon averred that he was innocent of the charge, “He never fight no man. He give ChoonFoke push, who fall himself. He want Choon-Foke leave, he no leave, he fall.”
Choon- Foke’s testimony was directly the opposite this; so that the Recorder suspended judgment till this morning, that he might inform himself better of the facts, through the medium of some Chinaman better acquainted with the English language.
— from the Sacramento (CA) Daily Union of September 24, 1852, page 2?, column 4
The errors in this published account, by my textual analysis, are that the first 3 occurrences of “he” were actually “me“.
That common occurrence — a misreading of a handwritten master copy by someone who was setting the type at the newspaper office — is surely to blame.
And, because we routinely find that English-speaking readers in the American West understood Chinese Pidgin English well, I bet everyone knew this.
Also, I betcha that who was actually he!
