Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-12

tice Blatchford will
make another change
in the Supreme Court,
IkV and deaths have been
'NAm more rapid here during
1AD SVSN the past few years than
HyNNTS-SN( in any other branch of
W@AN&aI our government. Chief
Justice Waite died when
:; T.: !: q: !: i: :: !:
on the bench twenty
eight years, seemed hale and hearty Just before
ne passed away. and no one here seemed to
mink but that Justice Bradley would last for
ever. His wiry frame seemed to DO made OF
sseel. and he was regularly in his seat year
In and year out. He WAS one Of the
hardest workers on the bench, and be
put In about twelve hours out of
every twenty-four. 1t was the same with Judge
Miller. don't think Justice Lamar over
| worked himself He got the grip, and this.
| added to his careless habits Of eating and exer-
else, helped to carry him Of. He had no rules
OF WORK, aud he sometimes put In twenty hours
| at . stretch. Justice Blatchford was more reg
nlar In bis habits. He looked more like an
English statesman than an American iurist.
and he was the personi6cation Of the eminently
respectable gentleman. The other justices
are extremely healthy, and the court
as 1t Is now constituted would make
good hotel advertisemnt. Justice Harlan
| must weigh over two hundred pounds. His
| eyes are bright and his cheeks are ROSY. JUS
tice Gray is fat and rotund and his skin is as
| clean and fair as that of q baby. Both Brewer
and Brown are the personifcation Of physical
vigor. and the CHIEF Justice. though his hair is
white and his mustache is silvery, has eyes full
| OF life and he trots about as though he were
walking on rubber. None of them look as
though they had much to worry them, and they
have forgotten their first struggles at the bar,
when, as in the case Of Chief Justice Fuller.
they were glad to get fees Of s5, and had not
yet begun to hope for positions worth $4,000
. year.
Secretary Smiths First Fee.
During my chat with Secretary Smith the
other day 1 spoke to him Of his law prac-
tce and asked him il he remembered the first
zee he received for legal services. He is, You
know, one OF the most famous lawyers Of the
south. He made last year. 1 am told Just
S31 900 out of his practice. and his earnings
right along range from 5000 to $50, 900 per
year He laughed as put the above question
and replied:
Yes, remember it very we'll. 1t was for
| the settling Of an injunction. The case was de-
cidcd In Atlanta at II O'Clock Monday AMI the
situation was such that the injunction would
have to be served at IL o'clock Tuesday. The
party interested lived away of in the interior
and 1t Vas a question whether we could reach
him In time. took the train that afternoon
for Gainesville and the next morning at 4
O'Clock was in buggy riding of into the
mountains with my injunction l reached the
place at 1850. driving my horse fast as he
could go all the way, and succeeded in serving
the injunction in time. The fee 1 got for it
was s25, and it seeIued to me very good paw"
"How about your first law case, Mr.. Secre-
tary? What was it?''
1t was the defending Of a negro who had
oeen arrested for arson, was the reply. THE
penalty was hanging. and / took up the man 9
case and cleared him. This gave me such a
reputation among the negroes that they all
came 20 me to defend them when they got into
trouble. took their cases for practice, some-
times getting small fees and sometimes none at
all. soon got better class of business how
ever. Before long bad one of the best prac-
tees in the south. / don't think there is any
more pleasant work than that of the law. l
like it. and shall 60 back to it as soon as
leave Washington"
Some Famous First Fees.
This $25 which Secretary Smith received as his
first legal fee was big amount in comparison
with those Of our other great lawyers. Henry
Gays first fee amounted to Just fifteen shil-
lings. and the late Justice Lamar got two Jugs
OF handmade whisky for his first legal serv-
to Columbus to be admitted for practice before
the supreme court of Ohio. And John II.
Mitchell Of Oregon, who now makes $20, 900 and
upward year at the law, was refused credit by
a carpenter whom he asked to make an
Office table for him at the time he began his
law practice In Portland Senator
ingalls, first law fee was from a carpenter and
he took his pay out IN trade. The carpenter
made him u table and desk for trying the
suit, and ingalls, son uses this desk as part Of
his Office furniture today. The late Benjamin But
Ter made his first real start at the law in attach
ing mill wheel for one Of his clients in Lowell,
and Leland Stanford once told me that he made
just 81, 200 the first year that he practiced law
in Wisconsin. fire burnt down his law office
and library. and this it was that sent him west
to make his fortune.
How Presidents Have Made Money.
understand that the prospects are that ex-
President Harrson's law practice will be more
than doubled by the reputation he has made as
President. and Grover Cleveland ia said to have
made fortune during the four years he was
out OF office. Nearly all the Presidents have
been lawyers, but none of those of the past
have made the vast sums that our lawyers make
today. Thomas Jefferson early Jumped
to the front Of the bar of Virginia,
and he was making $4,000 a year
and Monroe were good lawyers before they
| meddled with politics, and Hayes had fair
practice. Andrew Johnson liked nothing bet
ter than to make Q speech at the bar. He
studied law while he was at the tailor's bench
| and graduated from ii to the bar. Martin Van
Buren, is said to have been a good lawyer
James Buchanan was making ell 900 a year
when he left the law for politics. and Harrison 8
practice was a valuable one.
Some Costly Lawyers.
1t costs something to get one of these great
statesmen to try suit for you. Evarts re-
ceives about sl0 apiece for each and every
word in the 400 word sentences which he uses
in his arguments before the Supreme Court and
Senator Edmunds was published not long ago as
| having an income of 300, 900 from his law prac-
| tice. One OF the most famous lawyers of this
country was prominently connected with
the southern confederacy. Irefer to the late Ju-
| dab P. Benjamin, who served Mt different times
| In the cabinet Of jefferson Davis a. ATTORNEY
General, Secretary Of State and Secretary of
| War. He left this country with only
/ Sl0 in his pocket at the close of the war and
| fed to England. He opened a law Office in
London and during the eighteen years which
| he practiced there his fees amounted to $685.
600. He began his work in London by writing
editorials while he was waiting for clients, and
his first years income was only 81. 000 The
( next year it doubled and during the last seven
| years OF his practice he made from $50, 900 to
/ $50. 900 year. This was especially wonderful
in that Benjamin's law practice had been be-
| fore this entirely in the United States He had
| practiced before the Supreme Court while he
| was member Of the United States Senate, and
at this time he got big fees. some of which were
/ in the neighborhood of $50, 600
Il