"My old massa he's got the *dropner, um,
he's got the dropner, um,
he's got the dropner, um,
He am sure to die 'kase he's got no doctor, um,
Down in Alabam'."


I wonder if this refers to dropsy....


DROPSY (contracted from the old word hydropisy, derived from the Gr. 6pw~ ii&op, water, and ~, appearance), the name given to a collection of simple serous fluid in all or any of the cavities of the body, or in the meshes of its tissues. Dropsy of the subcutaneous connective tissue is termed oedema when it is localized and limited in extent; when more diffuse it is termed anasarca; the term oedema is also applied to dropsies of some of the internal organs, notably to that of the lungs. Hydrocephalus signifies an accumulation of fluid within the ventricles of the brain or in the arachnoid cavity; hydrothorax, a collection of fluid in one or both pleural cavities; hydropericardium, ~in the pericardium; ascites, in the peritoneum; and, when anasarca is conjoined with the accumulation of fluid in one or more of the serous cavities, the dropsy is said to be general (see also PATHOLOGY).

http://35.1911encyclopedia.org/D/DR/DROPSY.htm

DROPSY

SYLLABICATION: drop·sy
PRONUNCIATION:   drps
NOUN: Edema. No longer in scientific use.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English dropesie, short for idropesie, from Old French ydropisie, from Medieval Latin ydrpisia, from Latin hydrpisis, from Greek hudrpisis, from hudrps, dropsy, a dropsical person : hudro-, water; see hydro– + ps, face; see okw- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS: dropsi·cal (-s-kl) —ADJECTIVE
dropsi·cal·ly —ADVERB

http://www.bartleby.com/61/79/D0397900.html