The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-22
$I9O,O7ODOCTORF FEE
COURT REFUSES THE BIG BILL OF
A PITTSBURG PRAC-
TITIONER
TIME WORTH $50 AN HOUR
Physician Says That millionaire De-
cIared to Him Before Death That
His Services Had Been
Worth 100000.

PITTSBURG, March 21-The executors
OF the estate Of Senator Christopher L..
Magee have rejected the claim for pny-
sician's fees amounting to $190,070, filed by
DR.. Walter c. Browning, of Philadelphia
DIR. Browning has directed his attorneys
to begin suit against the executors, but
whether the action will be to recover
Sl90,O70, or several times that amount,
cannot be stated. DR.. Browning refuses
TO discuss that feature of the case.
The specialist said that Mr.. Magee had
acknowledged an indebtedness of more
than $500 600.
Furthermore, he continued, there
are several persons, friends of the sena-
Tor VINO are familiar with the circum-
stances and who will appear on the wit
ness stand in support of my claim.
Dr. Browning said that he prolonged
Mr.. Magee's life for more than a year,
and that during that period the senator
made more than $2,O00,000.
1T is one of the ways of executors to
underValue an estate he continued Il
presume there are reasons for doing so.
Senator Magee'S estate has been regis
tered at 90 per cent Of it's value. He was
worth $6,e0eO 600 or more at the time Of his
death My services made it possible for
him to accumulate one-third of the prop
erty.
A copy of the statement filed with the
executors was shown by DR.. Browning,
who explained at length the various
charges and told why they We're mS0as
Thy they were SO large, and why the sum
total due him is $4,000.
Worth $40 an Hour.
my time is worth $40 an hour" he be-
gan. BY that do not mean to say that
l charge every patient who comes into
my office $40 for consultation. My visi-
tors do not ordinarily stay more than tive
or ten minutes, and under such circum-
stances L charge them only S.. At these
rates l make more than $40 an hour. But
when spend long periods of time with
patient my rates are fixed.
Moreover, l do a strictly cash bust
ness. Since 1873 | have never had an ac-
count uncollected for more than thirty
days excepting the Magee account, and
there was a good reason for not collecting
the money in that Instance. Mr.. Magee
promised to double or treble it for me,
and he did as he promised.
"At the end of each month I handed the
senator a bill for the number of hours l
had spent with him. On every bill 1
charged $40 an hour for the time, and ia
each instance he took a pencil and
doubled the charge and the totals. He
said that What L was doing for him was
worth twice as much as l asked him to
pay. For instance, If L spent 300 hours
with him in the month and charged $4,000,
he would change the $40 to $40 and the
Sc 900 to $4,000. Then he would 0. X. the
bill as corrected and file it with his pa
Let Him Use Credit.
''These bills the senator's executors
have failed to produce. 1t is very strange
if they cannot find them. However, L
have sufficient evidence to prove that
they did exist just as 1 state.
1.-THE senator suggested that instead of
turning the cash over to me it would be
a good thing for him to invest it. 1 knew
how he stood in relation to the stock
market, and l willingly accepted his sug
gestion | knew that he was in with
Peter Widener and ElkinS and other feI
lows who help the lambs out of Wall
street / knew that Widener had turned
his physicians fees into nearly million
dollars. and l was glad to let the senator
take care of mine.
From time to time the senator told me
how I stood in relation to his investment
account. A short time before his death
he said that more than $500, 900 was due
me. He also told me that he had per-
sonally cleared more than 81, 000, 900 dur
ing the time that 1 kept him alive.