Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-01-27
James W. Gsrard-His First and Last
Legal Triumph,

In the course of his speech at the din
ner given in his honor by the New York
bar, at Delmonico's, New York, recently,
on the occasion of his retirement from
practice, Mr.. Gerard gave the following
humorous description of his first case
Well, / put up my sign at q very humble
office in William street-not more than
hundred dollars year-and / waited for
clients. Laughter. None came. [Cheers
and laughter. I had no copmercial pat
ronage; had plenty of fashionable
friends, but they make very poor clients.
No one came tapping" at my Office
door. Silence was there, "snd nothing
more" One day heard very heavy
tread outside my Office. took up my
papers and placed them all before me.
Laughter In came my worthy friend
Armand Westervelt, the attorney. He
said: II come to give you the
opportunity at least of making
speech before the jury" 1
said that was what wanted, and add ID,
II hope it will involve some great prin-
ciple, or at all events large amount Of
money" At this his countenance fell,
and he replied, 81 do not think it wi II
fall in either category" / said, "Pleas e
state the case" He said that it was a.
case of Ireland against Germany. Well.
that sounded very large indeed, so /
begged him to explain the particulars.
He said the plaintiff lived over in Green
wich, which, you know, was then out of
town. She was female baker, and had
a German for neighbor, who was male
baker; and he, being jealous of her sue
cess, had kicked over loaf of the plain
tifFs, and so cast bread-not upon the
waters, but in the mud. Now" he said /,
all Greenwich is in arms, and l am
commissioned to ask you to volunteer
to act for the plaintiff. You will
have very large audience, for there
is the greatest excitement between
Ireland and Germany" Well, / went
over to the courthouse. 1t was up at the
extreme end of the city, and Justice
Constantine presided. When / arrived 1
was introduced to my client, who was
warm and forty, though she was neither
fat nor fair. There, too, was our adver-
sary with the counsel. All the wit
nesses were produced, and there was a
long examination. / thought / had
made an impression on the jury. The
Judge delivered his charge, and the jury
retired. They soon returned again. |
triumphed And we got twelve shil-
lings damages. Roars of laughter and
applause All of our Irish friends were
full of gratitude to me. There we're
three cheers for ireland and three groans
for Germany. The men took me by
force over to the nearest corner grocery,
and insisted upon my taking dose of
the decoction of fusil. Immense cheer
ing and laughter.] A deputation came
over to invite me to take tea at my clients
house. l went there, had plenty of fun
among the Irish girls, and If l was not
" Gerard, the lion-killer," that evening,
| was at all events Gerard, the pet of the
petticoats. But must tell you one very
pleasant incident connected with that
affair. One of the jury was o gentleman
who took very deep interest in the pro-
ceediugs, and after the court was over he
came to me, asked for an introduction,
aud that man and / became friends till
death laid him low. had transactions
With him involving thousands and tens
Of thousands of dollars. He trusted me
with thousands without the slightest re-
man was Jacob G. Taylor,
The agent of John Jacob Astor, and the
father of Moses B. Taylor cheers and
applause land that was the most i'm
portant result of that case. That was
what 1 call the first legal triumph of my
ife-as this splendid ovation is my last.
Applsuse. l.