Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-06-20

fees of this kind which have been retained
and have grown into millions The late
David Davis died millionaire The bulk
of his fortune came from some lands about
Chicago which he was given for legal ser
vices when he was young man, and when
the lands were supposed to be worth prac-
tlcally nothing. He held to them and the
city grew and the lands grew with it. until
they brought HIM In hundreds of thousands
of dollars instead of few hundred dollars
1t Is so with many of the cases that come
before many of the Washington courts and
before the departments. Patent lawyers
accept sometimes interests in the patents
they secure, and one of the rich men of
Washington is patent lawyer named An
thony Pollock, who manages the Goodyear
rubber patents. The land claims that
come before Congress amount to millions
of dollars, and when a lobby lawyer gets
one through on the condition that he
Is to receive one-half or one-third he makes
big strike or nothing. When the
electoral commission was settled there was
considerable talk about the big fee that
Senator EyartS received for his argument
before the commission. The people sup
posed it to be thousands of dollars, but the
truth Is that Evarts did the work for moth
ing. Zach Chandler. who was then chair
man of the republican national committee,
called upon him and asked him to take
charge and select his own assistants. He
then asked him what he would charge.
saying that the republican committee was
poor and they could not offer him very
large retainer. Eyarts replied that as the
matter was a public one he would make no
charge, and Mr.. Chandler told him he
must at least allow him to pay his hotel
expenses. He was at Washington at the
time Chandler came to see him and was
stopping at Wormley hotel. He remain
ed thirty days to try the case and his bill
for this time amounted to $500 as he had
a number Of friends tc dinner This was
presented to the national committee, but
Chandler was not present and it was not
honored. When Evarts was told this he
said he would pay the bill himself and he
did So Zach Chandler wanted to make it
right but EvartS would not hear of it, and
the result was that he got $500 less than
nothing for making one of the greatest
legal arguments of history.
One of the most constant practitioners
before the Supreme Court at Washington
is Ben Bu5ler, and he probably makes
more money there than any other lawyer
in the country. He does an immence
amount of thankyou business, and is al
ways assisting some poor young man or
some poor woman for nothing. Not long
ago the boy of one of the brightest widows
of the Interior Department was seriously
injured in railroad accident. The ac-
cident was due to the carelessness of Off
GERS, and the railroad company was asked
to make some compensation. This they
refused to do and the woman was in deS-
pair. She called upon Ben Butler at his
Office and here stated her case He took
ii, tried it for her, and got her heavy
damages, and would not accept one cent of
pay. This is an instance that came under
my personal vision but it is only sample
of many others of which have heard. 1t
was the same with Roscoe Conkling He
charged the mil!iouaires but he worked for
nothing for the poor. A highly cultured
widow of Washington, whose property
was tied up and was being unjustly APP
propriated by others through a supposed
New York and presented her case. He
offered to take it vp but she told him she
could not pay him. In the gentlest man
manner Mr.. Conkling told her he would
do it for nothing, and he then set the ma
chinery of law in motion, which gave her
back her little fortune. 1t did not cost
her d cent.
| understand that Ben Butterworth will
drop the improbable fe!3 of politics TO
go into the more profitable one of the law
at the close of his term; and he could, if
he wood. have a bigger patent business
than any other man in the country.
FRANK G, CARPANTER.