> That 'em is very telling.

Not necessarily. As the OED shows, "'em" was once in formal or virtually formal use. It did not always have the semi-literate connotations it has today. It was "them" in an unstressed position.

Compare the usual 18th & 19th C. "don't" for modern "doesn't." The former (in the third-person singular) is now condemned illiterate.