The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-12-14
LAWYERS QUEER fees.
Like Country Editors Pay Are
Sometimes In Merchandise.
TALES BY A FEW OLD TIMERS
Big Cash Not Frequently Seen by Con.
tons Burglars Loot
For a Fee.

Fabulously large fees are paid to at
torneys, sometimes, for services which
seem trining in comparison, but IT is
only sometimes that such fees are paid.
The Canton boy who is educated for the
law, who thinks that within year after
he "hangs out his shingle' he will have
a practice which will insure him conf
petence, will find that he is up against
an entirely different proposition when
he enters on his chosen career. y p
Even the old lawyers in this city do
not always get cash fees, and stories are
told of queer fees that have been paid
to some practitioners. Burglars loot,
farm produce, labor of all descriptions,
almost everything imaginable, appear
on the list. F
The story of fee told by one lawyer
is of the kind where the narrator does
not like to have his name mentioned,
but it probably was not his fault. A
visitor was in the bachelors den of the
young lawyer when he noticed an en-
graved spoon hanging by ribbon
among some autographs, as though 1t
might be a relic of some sensational
collegians love affair.
SPOON FOR A FEE.
THAT spoon is my fee for clearing a
client one time," said the owner of the
decoration. IT had that given to me
after l defended old Bill Bradley, the
burglar. Bradley had been arrested
charged with having robbed house,
and among other things it was charged
that he had made away with set of
silverware. He sent for me, and from
the way he told his story / thought he
was right and had not mixed up in the
burglary. .F .
"Well, he told me he had no money,
but said he would make ii all right with
me some day II did get him out of his
trouble. so went in and worked hard,
and finally cleared him. A few days
after he had thanked me, he drifted into
my Office and said he had been trying to
scrape up some money for me, but
couldn't. Then he reached in his pocket
and gave me that spoon, one of the set
I had just acquitted him Of stealing.
If l took the spoon back l would con-
vict myself Of having defended a man
/ knew to be guilty, so / left 1t there
where you see it. ! think sometimes of
it, too, especially as old Bill was killed
while stealing a ride toward Chicago a
few days afterward." ...
A SATISFACTORY FEE. "a
when was practicing up north"
said another lawyer to a reporter, Il
had a fee in kind that / appreciated as
much as / have five hundred dollar fees
at other times. I had defended an old
farmer in a small suit, though I did not
expect to get any pay from him. The
suit was decided in our favor and the
old farmer and his wife went home.
Some months afterward the two came
into my office with a package and a
bundle tied up in a handkerchief. The
package was a roll Of butter. and the
handkerchief bundle was hazlenuts,
and from the old farmers pockets came
two rosy checked apples. That butter,
apples, and nuts fee was as satisfactory
TO me as any ever received"
For ten years ! have never paid to
have an umbrella mended," said an
other lawyer THE rich landlord of the
story book style wanted the store the
old crippled umbrella man was using
for shop, and started to force the old
fellow out. fixed him so he was all
lowed to stay, and ever since that
have taken my rain shields to him for
free mending. That was all the fee
ever received. too"
II had the secrets of my own lodge
offered to me as payment Of a service"
said one attorney who belongs to several
select orders. "I was sitting in my office
one day when a well-dressed woman
came in and wanted advice. Her hus-
band, to whom she was but recently
married, was a member of a secret So
ciety. 49,
"'I think it's perfectly horrid of him,
too, she said, to have secrets and not
to tell them to me. When he married
me he said he would share everything
with me, and the first thing ask, al
most, he won't do. Can't you make
him?'
- asked her to what lodge he be-
longed. and she told me the name of an
order Of which 1 myself was a member.
Then she went on: 4 tell you what. IL
you win make him tell them to me.
viii tell them to you. to pay you for
making him do what / want. That's
fair, isn't it? I should think you you'll
like to know such things. Need them
in your business. you know didn't
accept the fee. ,,-.
A GOOD OFFER ACCEPTED.
II had a good offer from one woman
that / did accept" continued this at
torney, "for 1t was too good to refuse,
although 1t was not In cash. I had
represented her in an action for divorce,
and after the suit had been won she
wanted me to accept part payment In
lace. The sample of the lace
she showed me was exquisite so told
her 1T would be all right. She gave me
about ten yards Of the lace. and 1t was
worth ever cent Of what ] was credited
to her for It," .r'i
II was paid in washing for a divorce
secured" raid q local legal light. "A
woman came to me with a tale of woe
about her husband, and wanted me to
get a divorce for her. She said that she
didn't want any work done for her for
nothing, but that she was not able TO
pay money. She would do my washing
for 26 weeks. though. II i would free
her from her husband. She refused to