The old doctor comes and takes a look, and says:
“Don’t be no rougher on him than you’re obleeged to, because he ain’t a bad n*****.”
– Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter 42. The men who bring Jim back to the Phelps house are giving him a rough time, giving him cuffs on the head, until the old doctor stands up for him. Twain uses satire and irony here, Jim is a free man but the others believe he is a slave.