Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-23
DRUMMERS AND SHYSTERs.
Two Glasses that arc Hangers-on Of the
Legal Profession.

Legal Profession.
| THEY ARE NOT SO NUMEROUS HERE AS IN OTHER
CITIES, BUT THEY MANAGE TO DO QUITE A BUsI-
| NEss-How THEY OPERATE AND WHO ARE usu-
| ALLY THE VICTIMS OF THEIR scHEMINa WAYS.
us that man lawyer?" asked STAR reporter
of well-known member Of the District bar.
referring to an individual who had just passed
'Well." was the reply, II can't say that he is
exactly lawyer, although he knows corsidera-
BILE about legal affairs. He is a sort Of drum
mer'"
What do you mean by that?" asked the re-
porter.
"A drummer is man who hunts up cases
for other lawyers. Fortunately. we do not
have great many in this city, Blu. in all big
cities this sort of people are quite numerous and
| form distinct class Some of them have studied
law, and having been admitted to practice,
have sign out attorneys. but they rarely
! handle case themselves Their main bust
ness Is to solicit cases for other attorneys. The
lowest grade of drummers hang about the
Police Court and catch the prisoners as they
are brought up. Unfortunately. we have more
OF that class here than any other, and they
Fave caused good deal of trouble. Several
times the judge has been compelled to refer to
| this solicitation of business and has said that
| any lawyer discovered to be implicated in such
an arrangement would be disbarred from prac-
| nee. Still. they do it every day, and many a
dollar is wasted on them bv unfortUnates who
| happen to get into the clutches of the law
| "how do they work."
! ny. II warrant Is issued against poor
! man or Woman-one VINO is evidently not versed
III the law-for assault and battery or for viola
non OF any ordinance, such the building
regulations. failure to pay license. or sor some
minor offense. the drummer viii learn of the
fact and very frequently before the warrant is
| served he will have seen the defendant and inn
| pressed him with the
GRAVITY OF THE CHARGE AGAINST Hill.
He says that it viii be necessary TO employ
counsel and then will present the card of the
lawyer for whom he is drumming. Then he
rushes around 20 the lawyers Office. tells him
| what he has done so that when the defendant
! arrives the LAWYER is on hand, introduces him.
self. and say that the matter can be all fixed
mp without publicity and at small cost if placed
/ entirely i'll his hands,
DO these lawyers really aid the prisoners
/ sometimes undoubtedly they are of service.
I for they are usually well posted in legal tech
nicailties and if there is any flaw in the warrant
| or the statement of the offense they are quick
! to take advantage of it and secure q release of
! their client. The most of the cases however.
| would be satisfactorily disposed of without the
! Intervention of these men whom we call shys-
tiers. They usually get their fee before the is
tried. and If the accused gets free they tell him
! 1t was because they manipulated the case. If
he is convicted, why they don't care as they
have his money i'll their pocket. III the prisoner
| has no money he won't be bothered by lawyers
. or their solicitors. We have but one Police
Court III this district and yet there several
| OF the Class of lawyers of which have spoken.
! and you can imagine how numerous they must
! be IN big city like New York or Chicago where
there are many police courts and scores of
prisoners brought before each every day.
| There Is. however. much more money, both
FOR the drummer and his employer in civil
eases than IN those brought before the Police
Court. Take, for instance, divorce suits and
suits for damages against individuals or cor
poratlons. particularly the latter. There 8
where the opportunity for money-mak!ng
comes III. have known cases where the same
drummer would wait upon both husband and
wife in a divorce aud ultimately serve the
one who would offer the bes. remuneration.
Many of them will
POSE AS PRIVATE DETECTIVES,
and you know it is not infrequent that when q
man and his wife fall out and are determined to
be legally freed from their matrimonial bonds,
they will pay handsomely to secure positive
proof against each other. Here's where the
drummer gets in his fine work. He secures
employment from one party to the divorce suit
as private detective, and he secures the rec
tanning of his employer as COUNSELLOR his de-
| tectlve services he is paid direct by the party
who employs him, and then he gets percent
age of the fee obtained by the lawyer who has
been engaged upon his recommendation.
1t Is in suits for damages on account of in
juries that both the drummer and his shyster
employer have the best show for making
money. man knocked over by the street
cars, by herdic. by vehicle of any descrp-
ton, has a good claim for damages against the
company, or individual, that owns the particu-
lar conveyance that worked the injury. You
know there is always popular prejudice
against any corporation, particularly railroad
company, and it is easy to get verdict in favor
! of the plaintiff. Now l don't mean to say that
there are not cases where suits are not legiti-
mately brought against railroad and other
! corporations. or that the damages awarded are
not fully warranted, but l do assert that SO
| strong is the popular prejudice against corpo-
ratiols, frequently damages far in excess Of
the pecunlary value Of the injury are awarded
by jury.
| Now, the legal drummer makes it his bust
| ness to read the newspapers thoroughly, and
| whenever he an account of an ac-
cident he goes to the residence of the victim,
gets his story of the circumstances, and judges
whether the case is good a one. Then he
brooches the subject of a damage suit, and pre-
| empts the case, as it were,
FROM THE SUFFERING VICTIM
| Then he hunts up all the witnesses and gets
their testimony, SO that when he goes to the
lawyer III whose interest he has been working
the latter is enabled at once to determine the
| amount OF damages to sue for This agreed
| upon the drummer returns to the injured
! party and proposes to take charge of the case
| without any charge or expense on his part if he
! will sign an agreement to pay over a certain
| portion of the amount awarded by the jury"
| How big percentage do these attorneys
usually demand?'
| "Onc-half, and they generally get it. You see
they usually represent to the plaintiff that they
| will assume all expense of drawing and filing
| the papers, DC, and secure the attendance of
witnesses which will involve good deal of time
| and hard work, and the outlay of some money;
and the plaintiff-in nine cases out of ten being
/ a poor man-comes to think that the lawyer is
rather doing him favor in taking the case
! Now this sort of practice by a lawyer is really
champerty, for it is a maintenance of the plain
tiff in his suit upon condition of having part of
| the sum recovered and no reputable lawyer
would be guilty Of working up business in such
/ a way; yet L am sorry to say that know some
who pass for respectable practitioners
who have been engaged in that sort of
| thing. L remember about year ago ! was
walking down the avenue with brother
| member of the bar when we became the wit
| ncsses to a very sad accident. A middle-aged
woman attempted to get upon a car, the horses
and was badly hurt. She was picked up, take
! into drug store, a physician called, who adj
mnistered temporary relief. and then had her
conveyed to her home. The gentleman who
was with me appeared to take great interest