The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-12-09
BILL COLLECTING.
WAYS OF THE SMALL LAWYERS AND
THE REGULAR AGENCIES.
How the Tough Cases are Managed-The
Bulidozer and His CIub-The Cheerful
Debtor-The Sarcastic Kind-The Blus-
tering Nan

terin., Man.
There are a good many collectors in
San Francisco, but they may all be de-
scribed in two classes. The first class in
cludes the small lawyers-yOung fellows
just getting a start, as a rule, though
you find some old hands among them.
They work singly. The others belong
usually To one of the regular coli >tion
agencies and work together on some sort
of "A system-hunt in parties, as 1t were,
and beat out their game like band OF
spOrtSmcn-
The collector settled himself for a long
conversation by fitting his chair back,
resting his feet on the table, and light
ing cigar.
Now he continued, ''the young law
yer has 4,geral ways of going about his
busnc--. Surprising him to have case
ii hi! the next thing to do is to find
his lrar. II hc IL impecuniOus he goes
ont ia person with the bill and hunts the
fellow mp. II he has had fee within q
week rr two and has the price OF half
dozen meals in his pocket he usually
write With an ordinary bill he must
write four letters. The first will say:
Dear sir: \ bill against You has been
placed in my hands for collection You
Will obligc. etc, by calling at my Office and
settling the same. Thee is no answer to
this The second letter is still polite but
firm. The third letter is woided some
what in this way; Dear Sir: II the in
closed is not paid we shall begin suit at
once. The fourth and last is a summons
to answer in a suit. In nine cases out or
ten this is efTectual If IL man has any
standing nj all he won't go through the
Justice court for a little bill, SO they come
up and settle.
But these are simple cases. The tough
ones are usually turned over to the collec-
ton agencies. The collection agencies will
take anything, and if the bill is collectible
they can usually get the money. When
bills come in they are 'districted' accord
ing To- the part of the city in which they
belong. They are then turned over to
the regular collector for that district who
present them in the usual smooth, oily
form. After a bill has been put out once
il i reaSSigncd. according to the reception
which it received. II the debtor manifested
"A disposition To pay, it is placed in the
hands Of the ordinary collector. The hard
cases. though, are turned over to the col
Iector technically known as the bulldoZer.
THE BULLDOZER AND HIS CLUB.
1.-The bulldozer is big man, and usually
carries club for company. He goes to
the hard case swells himself mp to look
a biz as possible, tramps up and down
the room with his club for a cane, and
announces that he has come TO see that
bill pail. He doesn't make any threats;
that is against the law But he has a
very suggestive way Of twirling his club
and making the most of his big voice,
and if the hard case is n small man he
usually SuccUmbs at the first encounter
IL he is u big man the argument gets pretty
warm, and they dare each other to come
out into the street and fight. But as the
bulduZcr has orders not to fight unless
necessary. and there are not many who
l. 4. l,ara iS.
usually compromise
What struck me as remarkable as any
thing when | first went into the business,
resumed the collector, refiectively, after q
pause was the number of men who
would acknowledge n bill but decline to
pay il for some frivolous reason. There
are lots of men who go into an enter
prise with the cheerful intention of allow
ing someone else to foot the bills in case
of failure I had case where ma
chinist did some work for an inventor. L
presented the bill last week. The bill
Is ali right he confessed, but the ma
chine j. no good. Do you think am
paying bills of that kind2' As he has
little property think he Will pay in
few days. Sometimes a man of this kind
denies that the bill is rightfully his. He
made the purchase, or had the work done
on somebody else's advice, and we must
get the money out of them.
"Onc of the characters OF the profession
Is the cheerful debtor He is a bland smil-
ing person that sheds threats rs a duck
does water lie has 10 property and no
income. He is as unco accrued the
summer breeze, and admits the bill with
as much unconcern rs though il were
his mother-iu laws. He invariably winds
upwith oh. ~ ahead and sue II you think
you can get il that way. l haven't the
slightest objection
ONE or THE SARCASTIC KIND.
Tie sarcastic kind is usually woman.
had one yesterday that follows the cheer
ful business OF laying out the dead. BY
the way she went for me / didn't know
but what She WAS going to follow her pro-
fCSSinl right there, and intended to see TO
il tina; furnished the corpse. And is
that the Kind of bill We would collect? she
said. The bill of n man that calls him.
self "a doctor and gives "A girl in spasms
medicine - he taken once in four hours!
] demonstrated that she had called the
doctor and ought to pay him. Doctors is
10 good. She said Scorufully. i throwed
his medicine out of the window, and I'd
like 10 serve him the same. oh, she con-
tinUrl. becoming very sarcastic, YOU can
suc II You want to; but you knows what
them catches as sues beggars And she
stulEvd Indignantly out.
II" clustering man Is another nice
character. He comes laundering around
with big nose and red face, and wants
L. know why i'll the name of the seven
devils ne is distracted by having bill sent
% him through an agency. The idea he
hlu-t err. 'of anybody surprising wouldn't
pay the bill But he never does. He goes
out with the parting shot that he would
hay" pai, it but now he will wait till he
gets ready There il only one way to reach
that kind Of man. We 20 right TO his en-
ploycr-he i usually getting good salary
ami we force n collection. No quarter
IS shown in such cases
- What do YOU find the hardest class TO
deal with in this city:'' asked the reporter
Wes- about the toughest cases we get
are the bills against laywers-some OF
the big downtown fellows that You would
never suspect, too. If the clients only
LnnNE II rhnr- cnr,lL M .o-,,. Liz foos