Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1859-09-02
From the New York Evening Post.
ABOUT BURLENG.

Our readers may remember the spicy letter
of "Nor' wester =" to the Boston Post, refer
ing to Burling, the New York collector
which went the rounds of the papers few
weeks ago. The following account of hi:
inOdUs cperGndl seems to corrUbOrate Nor west
er's statements
Ten years ago was seated in my Office at
No. II Wall street, busily driving the quill,
when heard quiet step behind, and then
a mild voice inquiring if had the transcript
of a certain judgment against one j. q. O..
the protector Of the great Peg-ghe-wah-wah
Company for selling Indian medicines. |
looked up and saw a man whose twisted foot
and palsied arms were quite familiar to me,
but of whose name or calling knew nothing
Yes replied, Il have the transcript ="
Well, want it, " he said 80 I'm going
to collect it for the creditor
Going to collect it," | exclaimed. '.why,
the Judgment is perfectly worthless. Execu-
tions and proceedings after Judgment. and ail
ordinary mtaa> of grace uaye ...- .-u.. .N-.
hausted upon O. He is ha,plos,ly iu.ll,eut,
and is. besides the most aIroit scamp OF a
swindler ever encountered
Whats that to mc?' broke out the Wis
itor, IN a gruH, strong voice, quite "a differ
ent from his first tones. Perhaps vou don't
know who am. I'm Burling, the uan
about town. You a lawyer. and not know
me Sherlfs are good for nothing. consta-
bles are good for nothing. Give mo the
transcript-here' the order for it'll make
money out Of him.
| swiyeled around my chair and stared at
the man And viii you Doe 50 good. Mr.
Burning. | asked, las to tell me what is
your patent plan for superseding officers and
wrts, and for squeezing blood out of IurniIs
and cash out OF the President of the Peg
! ghe-vah- -wah Company
! " How Do IL. you mean. - .y, a4n
| 'em at their houses. dun ',m in jhe street.
| | dun EN- al the theater, IdIu 'em lu church.
catch em early in the morning and -ti-,
to EN- all day; follow EN- up wherever they
20. 90 70 meals and eat with EN-; 20 to bed
and sleep with EN-; give 'em no peace night
| OF day, Sunday nor week day, stick 90 en-
like death to a dead niger. \ man owes me
debt He won't pay 1t. follow him all
the week So he can't DO any business, nor 20
to see his sweetheart, nor walk in Broadway,
nor eat with any appetite, nor sleep without
dreaming. IN after him, with the devil To-
hell run him down. All this won 10 p
Very well. When he goes TO church Sunday
he finds me in his pew (Nour sheritf> can ,
work Sundays do my best business then) |
The congregation rise, and he rises, takes out |
his book, opens at the place. and there he |
finds the bill I've stuck there. and gets 50 /
mad he can t say amen.
"Sheriffs and constables 90 continued De !
getting loud and fierce, ''will a sheriff 20 ,. /
a Sunday morning to a parsons house and 4
ollow him to church, and walk up the broad
aisle with him before all the congregation,
and 90 up the pulpit stairs close to his heels,
and slip into the pulpit after him before he
can shut the door, and take seat by his
side. and get up when he gets up, and when
he opens the Bible pen John Jones bin
full length. and lay it down over the chap
ter and verse and tell him Ihcr e that b'H
Of horse birc-pay II betore y0u preach But
that's what did-and | got my money
too
..And what commission did You charge
Fifty per cent.
.Rather strong" " | suggested. .'but still
your mode of procedure was strong. Do You
often get as much as fifty per cent?"
.'W hen earn 1t | get it. DIR. c.. Of
Broadway, sent me 70 dun fellow whol,ved
back in a yard, and kept two bull dogs that
he let loose on anybody who came TO collect
honest debts | went to him with a horse
pistol in each hand and DR. c. h In my
teeth, and made him pay up. What did
DR.. G. offer me for getting bus sixty dollars?
He offered me one dollar. won't take IT,
says l. I'll pay no more. says he. Pay me
thirty dollars. says |. Get out otmy office,
or II kick you out, says he, and Inc kicked
me out of his door and down the steps into
Broadway. | goes across to the -hoteI
and hires a great armchair ont of the bar
room. and takes it across the street and
plants i; on the curbStone right opposite DIR. ,
{ 5 office door. and lays the bill | had
made out on a sheet Of foolscap across my
knees. hanging down. 50 everybody that
went bv could read in large, black, sauded
letters:
"DocToR C.
To J. BURLNG, DR.. /
For collecting Of RICHARD RoE.
Commission. sou %. i
And all the crowd kept stopping to read, q
80 that there was all the while two or three
hundred people standing on the doctors
and reading first my bill and then
his SIGN. and making their Jokes had
hired the chair for the whole afternoon, but he s
hadn't stood thi, more than fifteen minutes
before ho comes tn the door and says "COme d
here. vou rascal and | went in and took v
thirty dollars Of his money, and lett the bill t
O
.. But my friend, don't your impudent O
wavs often get you into scrapes are you not /
afraid some one will some day break your a
head?''
=. Break whose head?" he thundered. c
;. Didn't Col S, of New Orleans. man e
that's killed seven men in duels, when went e
to dun him at the Astor House-didn't t he
rrab me by the slack of my breeches, and i
hold me out of the ffth-story window. and b
Il, I
Shall let YOU fall, and break your neck t
on the stones, or take you in and kick you i
down stairs t
L" Well, said |, anxiously, " what did you y
do them $
What did do | said Pay me that ?
money! and didn't he pull me in and pay +
me every cent? s
The intensity of his manner as he thus re-
lated his exploits, cannot be rendered on pa h
per, especially when he exclaimed, with r
closed teeth and the fingers of his round hand t
PAY me that money! =
He took the transcript and limped out. In n
another day the hapless debtor, and over n
match for all the regular thumb-screws of the l
law, came in to beg piteously | would call off v
the bloodhound | told him it was the a
creditors affair, not NINE Next day | met l.
Burling ut the corner Of Cortlandt street. a
looking mild and happy, and asked him how b
he succeeded. O
g haven't got it yet" was the reply.
. lie hasn't found me out. but he has Just v
paid me five dollars to let him dine at the q
hotel down there, without my company. t
We've taken all our meals together for the a
past two days, and he began to find his appe- l.
tte fail. o
The residents of Jefferson Avenue, Detroit,
were much amused at the GOODNESS Of party I
Of mOurners who followed the last remains OF c
some departed friend or relative to the grave q