The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1901-01-26
PROFESSIONAL COMPROMISES
The Method by which n Railway
Claim Agent spcIlbOund a
Man and Money.


"A professional compromiser who
understands his business is most
valuable man ON the staff of any big
railroad" said New Orleans lawyer,
relates the New Orleans Times-Demo-
crat. ut is great art" he com
tinued, land had the fact impressed
on me by something unusual that
happened early in my career.
Il had been in practice only year
or so, as remember. when j was en-
gagged by a certain railroad company
to represent it in damage suit
brought by an old fellow who had
been hurt at crossing. | got the
job because the regular attorney and
regular assistant attorney were out of
town on bigger affairs, and / threw
myself into it with unlimited enthu-
siasm. A little investigation con-
vinced me, however, that the company
didn't have a leg to stand on, and
neither, for that matter did the
claimant, both of 'em having been
broken off above the knee. So | adj
vised compromise, and was told to
settle it, if / could, for thousand
dollars. That fixed limit discouraged
me, because the suit had been brought
for $4,000, and / knew the opposi-
ton lawyers had been filing their
client with rosy hopes; but l
thought up scheme that seemed
promising.
"The claimant was an ignorant old
fellow, who had been laborer for
years, and took it for granted that
he had never had as much as 800 at
any one time in his life. I'll just
hypnotic him. l said to myself, and
going to a bank | got brand new
81, 900 bill. Then hurried off to his
boarding house, found him in dirty
little back room, and made my propo-
sition for settlement. Just as an
ticipated, he declined it, Indignantly
Very WE'LL said /, pulling out the bill
with a studied carelessness; in that
case I'll have to return this money
But, by the way, I added, did you
ever happen to see thousand-dopar
bill? It's quite handsome bit of
DdPCIs IL CdHQlu, was
awed by the thing myself and expect
ed him to finger it like piece of the
true cross; but, to my amazement, he
took it indifferently, glanced at it
with no apparent interest, and handed
it, back. It's very pretty, he said,
stolidly, and went on smoking his
pipe.
"A few days after this discouraging
experience" the lawyer went on, Mr..
Andrews, the claim agent of the line,
happened to be in town and dropped
in to inquire about the case. He was
a veteran in the business, but he al
ways impressed RE as being a man
totally destitute of tact, and l never
could understand how-he held his job.
He chuckled when he heard my story.
My dear boy he said, you simply
overplayed yourself. You expected
that old man to drop dead at the sight
of thousand-dollar bill Why, bless
your soul, he didn't know what it
meant! 1t was beyond the outposts
of his Imagination. He was like you
yourself, when you hear an astrono-
mer talk about ten billion miles.
The figure conveys no idea to your
mind. It is too big. But come with
me- he added, and I'll give you an
object lesson
II was surprised and piqued, but I
went along and the first thing An
drews did was to get 1000 one-dollar
bills at the bank. He cut the slips
that held them together, stacked
them up in loose heap and wrapped
them in a newspaper. Then he went
TO the boarding house and found the
old man sitting in his little back
room, still smoking his pipe. He didn't
seem to have moved since was there
before. We'll, Connally,' said the
claim agent, after few general re-