Opening crawl: The figures in this story are familiar ghosts of my own boyhood. The War between the States was over, but its tragedies and comedies haunted every grown man's mind, and the stories that were swapped took deep root in my memory.
Judge William 'Billy' Priest: That's sort of a novelty, Herman, - the barber gettin' cut up! Whoever cut him up couldn't have cut him up much if they used the barber's razor.
Judge William 'Billy' Priest: Reverend Brand, before you come to this town, what was your occupation?
Rev. Ashby Brand: In my early manhood, before I took holy orders, I had the honor to be a Captain of artillery in the late war.
Judge William 'Billy' Priest: In the war of the rebellion?
Rev. Ashby Brand: No sir. In the war for the Southern Confederacy.
Judge William 'Billy' Priest: My, my error.
Judge William 'Billy' Priest: Hey, hey boy, wake up there. Sheriff, wake him up there. If anybody's going to sleep in this court, it'll be me.
Sheriff Birdsong: Hey, wake up.
Jeff Poindexter: What?
Judge William 'Billy' Priest: Come here, boy. Come on over here. What's your name?
Jeff Poindexter: Um, Jeff Poindexter.
Judge William 'Billy' Priest: Here, come here, what, what do you use for bait?
Jeff Poindexter: Oh, I got hunk of beef liver.
Judge William 'Billy' Priest: Beef liver?
Jeff Poindexter: Yeah. Take the beef liver and put it on there and chuck it out there. Let them have the first piece, for nothin', see and then you put some more on there and chuck it out there and then they think they're going to get that for nothin' and then you catch 'em as long as you got the liver.
