The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-04
SKELETON OF THE FEAST.
Famous Dinners Which Old
Judge Mesick Bought
on Credit.
N INTERESTING ACCOUNT.
Over Two Thousand Dollars Spent
on Wine, Women and
Poetry

The ghost of old Judge Mesick. if it was
in Judge Hunts courtroom yesterday,
must have laughed in its shroud-like
sleeve at the queer legal tangle which the
old jurist left behind him to perplex
Judges and jurymen. Pierre Cassera was
there in the flesh, and, through Vincent
Neale, was suing for the amount of some
extremely interesting items which Mesick
contracted for at ''Tortoni's' restaurant.
The suit is being brought against the
Mesick estate and is for the recovery OF
$23S2 so, a not uninteresting item by itself,
but infinitely more so when divided up
into the elements of which it is made.
There is little scandal in every item, and
the way they followed each other in sue
cussion of dinners for two, three or four
payne by the dozen, flowers, rooms and
coupes and then "cash for Mollie."
Mollie figures prominently in the ac-
count and in the case, but so far she has
not lent the glamour of her presence to the
dingy little courtroom. Mesick was fire.
quently in Mollie's society, as his account
shows, and as the soft-voiced walters testi-
fed yesterday, and in the fullness of his
admiration and Tortoni's best champagne
the gallant old lawyer had sworn that any
thing she wanted she was to get. Pierre
was called up and told OF this decision, and
Mollie proceeded at once to act upon it.
She ordered dinners and wines, drinks and
coupes, and when she was little short of
ready money she went to the restaurant
keeper and he lent her what she wanted
on the Judges account.
The Judge came to the restaurant mostly
on Saturday evenings, said Charles Eisen-
MEN, one of the walters, and before arriv-
ing he would send word to have the room
fixed up with flowers, fire lighted and
everything made comfortable for a night
out. He was very fastidious in his eating,
and would often have to be coaxed into
tasting the delicaeies of the house or into
trying the new dishes which were set be-
fore him. Just why it was necessary to
coax the old man the witness did not ex-
plain, but continued about the peculiar
habits of the Judge.
Etienne Mastolli, another waiter, had
also word to say, and also Giuseppe Pei
letiere, a musician who, with his four
comrades often lulled the Judge into bib
ulous sleep and then went downstairs and
dined sumptuously at the Judges ex-
pense, for he had SO ordered. These ex-
travagances frequently cost hundreds of
dollars in single night.
And Mollie, too, she did not stay by the
to finish her pint bottle of expensive
champagne. 1t leaked out that as soon as
the judicial eyes were closed Mollie used
to seek other company and take up the
course of wine and wassail which the pre-
mature slumber of the old man had cut
short. But all this was at the Judges ex-
pense. Had he not told her to entertain
her friends, without qualifying the sex or
number? Besides, friend awake is better
company for girls like Mollie than one
asleep-and then, too, the walters were
discreet, and the old Judge never knew.
1t was not only at night that the judicial
presence graced Tortoni' s, for his ex-Honor
was as frequently there in the daytime.
He used sometimes, the walters said, to
stay all the next day and night after an
evening with Mollie and the girls, and dur
ing these periods of penitence it was re-
marked by the attendants that the Judge
was cross and irritable. He used to order
prodigious quantities of champagne, but
he wasted great deal of it and drank but
a comparatively small portion. Mollie
was not very often with him during the
day, but toward evening she would come
to see him. and then the old Judge would
rise from his chair, throw away his news
papers, ring the bell and order dinner and
plenty of champagne for two. On one
occasion he even went so far as to read
poetry to her, but ex-Judge CARRIER, who
represents the executors of Mesick's
estate, thought it was immaterial, so the
court ruled the poetry incident out At
these dinners the Judge would frequently
sit down at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and
would not rise from the table until II, and
even then he did so with reluctance and
difficulty.
The executors OF the estate are contest
ing the claim on the ground that great
many of the items were contracted at the
Judges expense probably, but without his
authority. Their side of the case will not
be submitted until this afternoon, for the
plaintiff has more evidence to produce and
probably even the winsome Mollie may be
induced to come in and testify and make
the ghost of the ancient jurist chuckle in
phantom glee at being in her presence
once more.