The herald., 1896-12-15
COUNSEL BANDY WORDS.
An Old Judgment Against Theatrical
Manager Wyatt Knocked Out.

A case that provoked a good deal of
interest at one time was finally dis
posed of yesterday by Judge Mckinley.
There are few people in the city who
do not know-at very least by sight
Harry Wyatt, the genial manager of the
Los Angeles theater and some will have
the recollection that he was some years
| ago arrested when just about to leave
/! for the east, in response to a telegram.
at the instance of S. Z. Bisbee, at that
time engaged in running the Opera
House saloon. The difficulty that
prompted Bisbee to such heroic meas
ures was settled for the time being when
he obtained judgment against Wyatt
for s676.40
While that was doubtless very nice for
Bisbee there was an ugly side to the
affair. so far as Wyatt was concerned,
although apart from the judgment rem
dered against him. When arrested he
was about to proceed east on most i'm
portant business, and through his de-
tention he had suffered serious none
tary loss. To remedy matters he be-
gan suit against Bisbee to recover $2O,-
900 damages for loss in business, repu-
tation. etc. In this suit George ]. Denis
represented Wyatt as counsel and Sena-
/ tor Stephen M. White acted in like ca
pacity for Bisbee. In February, 1893,
| dismissed. in consideration of the judg-
ment which Bisbee held against Wyatt
| being also dismissed.
| 1t seemed as if peace must again reign
and the bloody chasm" that had been
occasioned in the friendshop of Wyatt
and Bisbee would again close. But it did
4, not
| In November, 1S93 Bisbee assigned his
claim against Wyatt to John H. F. Peck
! for the nominal consideration of ST. This
| brought a good deal of bitter feeling to
| the surface again and the briefs filed by
| opposing counsel in the later suit
! brought by Peck against Wyatt to recov-
er the original judgment contain some
! rather racy reading.
| Counsel for the defendant. in advert
| ing to the plaintiff brief filed in court,
| says. in part:
There is a large measure of human
nature in the brief. inasmuch as the un-
! fortunate subject of the plaintiffs vitu-
peration is the erstwhile victim of his
| traducer's financial debauchery. A brief
| perusal of the deposition of Bisbee will
| show an artistic play of diplomacy on
the part of Mr.. Peck that was worthy of
! better cause. 1t passes gradually
| through the stages of dear friend
| "patronized friend" 'credulous simple
tom etc. and eliminates in the produc-
| tion of lone more pauperized and plum
J
| Were we to indulge the temptation
to join issue in mutual roast" rendered
| by counsel for plaintiff, we could have
| little difficulty in showing that the vile
compounds furnished Bisbee by Peck un-
| der the seductive name of whisky" were
| largely the active cause of the business
| collapse. We doubt if the witches CAL
! dron in Macbeth contained anything
more mysterious or more deadly. We
| might attempt to show that Bisbee's
patrons were thereby killed off until
only a beggarly remnant was left and
| when this element fed to the woods in
dismay the Opera saloon with all its
gorgeous furnishings melted down upon
the ample financial bosom of Plaintiff
| Peck. to the lullaby refrain of Hic Jacet
! Prudence, Pety, Temperance. Virtue!
| with any or all of which circumstances
the defendant has no concern
Counsel for the plaintiff got back in
| fairly g4od shape and. in adverting tC
certain alleged false swearing, said: 81
am forced to state that a man who holds
the sanctity of an oath with such little
value and the agreements of a private
transaction with such disregard. I mus
say as did Shakespeare: What hole ir
hell is hot enough for him?'" Z"
A last shot was given to defendants
counsel. as follows: Were it not fol
my personal knowledge as to the sobri
ETY. of the learned counsel on the other
side, I would be constrained to the view
that he had been indulging in not only
some of the deadly compounds which h,
so aptly described, but whole baske
of 'Pommery Sec at the time of writ
ing his statements as to the 'smartness
of Mr.. Peck. We are frank to admit, ant
with all candor. that Mr.. Peck IL a smar