The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-05-01

Wlth me and report to Captain Great John' Bring you sealed orders with you"
 When l found myself on board the gunboat, which proved to be the Sprite, the captain ordered me to open my or gers, As l had suspected, we were in- structed to go to a certain place on the Slave Coast and receive a shipload of niggers. That was contraband business, and l knew it, Capt Greatjohn talked the business over with me, He told me that If 1 wanted to protest against the seizure of the Nancy Bell might pro- test and be damned, If did he would put me and my crew ashore to walk home, If was willing to submit and to acknowledge that the Nancy Bell was chartered for the slave trade and so save him lot of trouble at home, he would see that we were all sent back to the United States, and he would give me one-fifth of one third of the prize money coming from the Nancy Bell. knew that my boat was lost, any way, and l accepted his offer. prize crew was placed on board the Nancy Bell, and, guarded by the Sprite, we sailed for Liverpool, To bind our bargain the Captain wrote this agreement on leaf of his Bible. When we reached Liverpool I didn't want to wait until the Nancy Bell was sold, and the English Government paid my way back to New York, The Nancy Bell has since been sold, and although I have written for my share of the money I have had no answer. I can't get another ship just now, and want you to collect my money" 'The mans story interested me and a few questions convinced me that he was telling the truth. I had nothing to do, and was as a pure speculation l took his case. He left with me the Bible-leaf agreement and told me that | he would call again in two months. I looked up all the law that I could find bearing on the case, and there wasn't a great deal, and then I filed the claim with the English Government. l recei we'd word that the claim would be in vestigated, and the reply convinced me that no attempt would be made to dispute the main points of Captain Barnes story. The captain called on me two months later, looking a little rustier. I couldn't give him much en- couragement, however, so he went on short cruise south, and came to see me again when he returned. In the mean time I had been carrying on lively correspondence with the English gov ernment, but there seemed to be no way to hurry the case along. Captain Barnes came in to see me at regular intervals, and time passed without any new developments until the war broke out I had picked up a little practice, and I was interested in other things than the captains suit,
 "The breaking out of the war made international cases such as thls one diff fcult to settle Captain Barnes cruised around, and whenever he was in New York he came in to see how his case was getting on. One day he came into my office and said
 Now, look here, sir, this case of mine is likely to drag on for years, and I can't wait. My claim will be paid some time, but I want the money now I've got chance to take a ship to Aus
 
 dred and fifty dollars for my claim I'll assign it to you
 1.-Two hundred and fifty dollars was 8 | large sum to me then, but I determined to risk it on this claim The Captain took his money and sailed away. Af- | ter he bad gone I concluded that had | been a fool. The dark days of the war | came and New York was in turmoil. One morning the British consul-gene- ral came to my office and asked me about Captain Barnes case I told him what l had done in the matter and , showed him the assignment of the claim that the captain had made to me To my great astonishment he said: ''I have the pleasure of telling you that the claim has been allowed, and I | herewith give you a check for five hun dred pounds to settle it in full l This piece of luck seemed too good to be true, and I signed a receipt for the money with pleasure. The full ex- tent of my good fortune didn't dawn on me until the consul-general left my of flee. Then I realized that the draft was payable in gold, which was then at premium of 2S0, and when I cashed l it in l received nearly six thousand dollars. That was the fee for my first case. It made me independent of my law practice for at least three years, and it gave me start for which I have always been thankful.
 "I never heard of Captain Barnes af- | ter that. He disappeared mysteriously during the war like many others. His ship the Nancy Bell, was refitted and engaged in a legitimate business That Is the history of my first case" e."-New l v,,,1y Gu,