The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-10
RoBBING THE NEWSPAPERS.
How Libel Suits Are Manufactured
by Shysters.

From the New York Evening Post
Bellevue Hospital, the chief institution in
J this city where accident cases as wei as
sickness ana insanity, are treated at the
| expense of the city, has long been recog
| Iilzeo among lawyers, doctors and under
| t"hTls Oh dubious class as a fruitful
neu Tor the practice of the many ques-
| uonable methods which they employ in
making a prevarious living. Within the
| iast two years attention has been called
| III the newspapers and elsewhere to the
| pactlce OF number of undertakers who
| nave their establishments without the
| gates of Bellevue Hospital, when patient
ules, taking charge of the body in the
nope that they will be repaid by the mem
bers OF the dead persons family
These underakers have confidential
| agents in the hospital, in the person of the
pauper attendants who are employed about
| the hospital in various capacities These
| agents for small fee inform the under
| taker whenever a death occurs, and the
| undertaken investigates and satisfies him
self that the family of the decedent is in
position to pay his bill. He then returns
to the hospital, has the body removed to
his place on the ground that he has been
| ordered by the family to take charge of it.
and notifies the family that the body is
| at his establishment
The clerks in the hospital are supposed
to notify the relatives of any one who
dies in the hospital Immediately but for
some reason or other this is seldom done
in cases where these particular under
| takers are concerned, until they have had
ample time TO make an investigation.
1t is only due to the authorities to say
| that they have done everything in their
power under the present system to do
with these and like a Tho CO
called runners for lawyers, who used
to follow the ambulances, and sometimes
even ride on the great seat with the driver
have been forbidden to enter the hospital
grounds, and they are not even allowed
now to stand outside the hospital gates.
The clerks in the hospital who are found
to be in collision with persons outside the
hospital are promptly discharged, and the
attendants. where they happen to be pau
per prisoners, are subjected to punish
ment when detected
Despite the vigilance of those in charge,
however the shyster lawyers have recent
" ii, ~iijUi sss.a!pe for robbing the news
papers which it is diffcuS 9et, I.--sl The
following incident which is typical OF q
number which have occurred within the
past six months, will show how the scheme
is worked:
A few days ago a man who said he was
Michael Murphy. a coachman, Is years
old, and who said he lived at No. 223 East
Twenty-eighth street, was brought into
Bellevue Hospital with a broken leg,
caused by being run down by a street car.
The day after, another man, who said he
was Michael Murphy, walked into Belle
vue Hospital with a bag filled with let
tiers from lawyers, Offering to sue the COM
pany for damages, and offering $500 cash
for permission TO use his name in bring
in NurDhV WAS very much DIIZ-
zled and called at the hospital to find out
what it all meant. There the only infor
nation obtanable was that some person
had given that name and address on enter
ing the hospital.
The letters which Murphy had in his
possession when he called at the hospital
we're all written on letter-heads of strik-
ing pattern. One communication bore, in
a circle at the top of the first page, the
following motto: I'VE protect the poor
from corporate greed"
The other letters displayed the name or
names of the members of the different
firms in letters varying from three-quar-
ters of an inch to the size usually adopted
by ordinary business men. One of the let
tiers was as follows:
Dear Strive have learned of your &C
cident through a friend of yours, and will
be glad to recover for you from the re-
sponsible parties a substantial sum. In
cases of this kind it is always best to con-
suit a lawyer who has had experience in
the particular kind of case involved. We
have had an experience of more than
TWENTY-FIVE years in handling accident
eases If you will call at our office we
will show you how we can obtain for you
large damages. We will pay you, if you
agree. on account $500 on the commence
ment of suit, or perhaps more.
While the incident just cited might
chance to be a coincidence the real eX-
planation of a number of cases where
roysnaners have been mulcted in large
damages for printing the name and ad-
dress given by a person TO whom they dld
not belong, lies in the fact that these same
SINISTER lawyers now employ thelr agents
in running down accident cases where
nerson. usually practically a pauper, has
been injured in a fight. with the police
~. in some other discreditable manner.
rho runner" if successful, by liberal
foo nersuades the injured person to give
The wrong name and address. After ii has
been printed in a newspaper the shyster
calls mon the rightful owner of the name
in ouestion. who is naturally indignant,
49, offers 10 bring suit for libel on the
basis Of share-and-shdre-aiiAe III '"e o"iii-
ages recovered.
eases are on record where newspapers
bava been obliged to pay $4,000 for print
ing an address from the ohlclal Diotter
of the hospital when that address merely,
NOT the name was that Of different per
son from the one mentioned IN the aru-
Gle complained of. rms prac'lce Is con
6red not to the hospitals alone, but TO
the various police stations in the city as
veil 1t Is of 20 avail to produce the
hIotter with the address upon II in court
for in the majority of cases the fact that
Tho wrong name or address has been pub