The herald., 1893-12-24
MAKING DUCKS AND BRAKES OF DE-
CEDENTS' ESTATES.

It must be very blissful thing to be
q lawyer in California-that is to say, if
the limb of the law is in the swim, has
pull or has any method of getting his
gallinippers on clients. A celebrated
Pennsylvania lawyer was wont to say
that one client, properly handled, was
enough to make man rich, and yet no
Pennsylvania disciple of Coke, Lyttleton
and Blackstone ever dreamed of the law
fees that are fashionable in California.
These may be briefly described. in Grim
inal cases, as being all that a man has
got and in civil causes all that the law
yer can get.
About ten years ago an Englishman
named Blythe died in San Francisco in
testate, leaving very large estate and
no lawful heirs. From the moment the
last nail was driven into his coffin his
estate passed into litigation. and it has
been litigated ever since. To his ever
lasting enrichment Phil Roach was pub
lie administrator when Blythe passed
away, and the handling OF his estate
passed into the hands of this ex-newspa.
per man. Mr.. John A. Wright, the at
torney of the public administrator, re-
ceivsd $135, 900 in fees for handling the
estate during Mr.. Roach's term as public
administrator and is now suing the es-
tate for 500, 900 more. We have no means
of knowing what Mr.. Wright's services
purely legal services-wers worth, but
the probability is that they would be
dear at two or three Thousand dollars a
year for the period covered by Mr..
Roach'a term of Office.
Attorney General Hart, who has an
interest in the estate as the attorney of
Florence Blythe Hinckley, says that
fully $500, 900 of the moneys OF the estate
have been improperly absorbed. Thir-
teen most important vouchers are miss
ing, covering immense sums. Nobody
knows what has become of them, al
though they have been hunted for high
and low.
The most astonishing feature of the
vast Misrepresentation Of the moneys of
the Blythe estate ia that nobody can be
found to arraign the honor of any of the
persons connected with their disappear
ance. They are all highly honorable
men. A person of a splenetic turn of
mind might readily find different
phrase to characterize them. That they
are moral agriculturists of moet pro-
nounced type goes without saying. 1t
ia impossible that such prodigious sums
--as in the case of the Blythe estate
nearly a million and a half dollars has
been absorbed during the past ten years
mainly in expenses of adminiEtra-
tion-should vanish without dishonesty
amounting to piracy with fat burglary
superadded.
Is it possible to check the rspacity of
a certain section of the bar in California
We doubt it very much. We have seen
so many instances of fragrant abuse,
amounting to felony even, that we have
lost all confidence in the power or the
willingness of California courts to rein
in the attorneys who practice before
them. 1t ia case of can't or won't,
and probably little of both.
Is it possible that man practising
before California court 1--WE do not now
allude to the United States courts)
could. under any circumstances, be de-
barred? We answer that we do not be-
lieve he could be. We have ourselves
seen a man stand up in Los Angeles
court, plead guilty to felony, beg for
mercy. pay large fine, escape the peni-
tentiary by the skin OF his teeth, and
the mercy of the court, and yet con-
tinue q member of the Los Angeles bar,
to all intents and purposes in good
standing.
There ought to be a remedy for such
things but we do not see any. All of
which must be very CALLING to the hon
orable and self-respecting members of
the bar--for, thank God, there are still
many left who deserve this designation.