The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1901-10-01
1T WAS VERY PRETTY
BUT IT DIDN'T WIN THE OLD MAN
WHO WAS SUING FOR DAMAGES.
An Incident Which Shows What a
Different Impression May BE Made
by . Thousand Dollar Bill and .
Thousand One Dollar Bills.

An Incident Which Shows What n
Different Impression May BE Made
by q Thousand Dollar Bill and
Thousand One Dollar Bills.
"a professional compromiser who
understands his business is most val
liable man on the staff of any big rail-
road" said a New Orleans lawyer,
apropos of nothing in particular. at is
a great art" he continued, "and had
the fact impressed on me by something
rather unusual that happened early in
my career. 1 had been in practice only
a year or SO, as / remember, when 1
was engaged by a certain railroad COM
pany to represent it in a damage suit
brought by an old fellow who had been
hurt at crossing. 1 got the job be-
cause the regular attorney and regular
assistant attorney were out of town on
bigger affairs, and threw myself into
it with unlimited enthusiasm A little
Investigation convinced me, however,
that the company didn't have leg to
stand on, and neither, for that matter.
did the claimant, both of 'em having
been broken above the knee. So ad-
vised compromise and was told to
settle it if could for $1,000.
THAT fixed limit discouraged me, be-
cause the suit had been brought for
$4,000, and l knew the opposition
/ lawyers had been filling their client
with rosy hopes, but l thought up a
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.
said to myself, and, going to a bank,
| got a brand new $1,000 bill Then 1
hurried OF to his boarding house,
found him in q dirty little back room
and made my proposition for settle
| ment.
Just as anticipated, he declined it
Indignantly. Very WE'LL said l, pulling
| out the bill with a studied carelessness,
in that case I'll have to return this
money. But, by the way added, did
you ever happen to see a $1,000 bill?
It's quite a handsome bit of paperv To
be candid, was rather awed by the
thing myself, but to my amazement he
took it indifferently, glanced at it with
no apparent interest and handed it
back. It's vera pretty he said stolid-
ly 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 always
impressed me as being a man totally
destitute Of tact, and never could un-
derstand how he held his job. He
chuckled when he heard my story. My
dear boy he said, you simply over
played yourself. You expected that old
man to drop dead st the sight of a
$1,000 bill. Why. bless your soul, he
didn't know what it meanti 1t was be-
yond the outposts of his imagination.
He was like you yourself when you
hear an astronomer talk about ten bill
lion miles. The figure conveys no idea
to your mind. 1t is too big. But come
with me- he added, and I'll give you
an object lesson
81 was surprised and piqued, but
went along. and the first thing An
drews did was to get 81. 900 in 81 bills
at the bank. He cut the slips that held
them together, stacked them up in a
loose heap and wrapped them in
newspaper. Then he went to the
boarding house and found the old man
L Ia T.. y t. a11v e-f;lI
smoking his pipe. He didn't seem to
have moved since l was there before.
Well, Connally,' said the claim agent
after a few general remarks, I've
brought around that 81 900 and want
you to sign a receipt in full The old
man got angry Immediately. I'll not
do itv he yelled. I'll take what sued
for and not cent lessr You're fool
ish,' said Andrews calmly. No jury
will give you over $1,000, and your
lawyers will get half of that. You'd
better do business with me-
HE had been holding the package of
bills on his knee while he was talking.
and just then he made an awkward
gesture and knocked it off. He grab
bed at it wildly as it fell and, with one
swoop. scattered the money all over the
squalid little room. 1t covered every
thing-foor, chairs, table, bed-and
some Of it even went into the wash
bowl 'Doggone the luckv he shouted
Here, Connally, lend hand, will you,
and help me gather up this stuff The
old man made no reply, but sat speech
less and transfixed, while his pipe
slowly slid out of his mouth and fell
into his lap. Meanwhile Andrews
seized a broom and began sweeping up
the bills like dry leaves. Saints pre-
serve u.s. whispered Connally at last.
still staring stupidity at the litter. How
much is there?' The $1,000 you don't
want snapped the claim agent and
kept on sweeping. In ten minutes he
had collected the money in big heap
on the newspaper. We'll, guess I'd
better be going he remarked as he
bundled it up. Hold on Bit said the
! old man, and before l fully realized
what had happened Andrews had his
autograph on the receipt.
''The whole thing had been done so
rapidly and passed off so much like
some well rehearsed scene at a play
that l was simply dumfounded and
. lacked language to express my admira-
tion. Andrews was very modest about
, it, though, and insisted there was moth
ing remarkable in what he had done
When you undertake to spellbind a
man with money! he said, you must
use denominations that he can compre-