The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-11

they know that their clients were in
Jured, If at all, by reason OF their own
negligence. The very minute an action
is begun the defendant cannot settle
with the plaintiff without being respOn-
sible for the lawyers fees, and there
fore the attorney has a strong induce
ment 10 bring these cases with little or
no danger 10 himself in case of defeat,
1t is said that Guiteau, the assas
of President Garfield, who at one time
was a praeticing attorney in New York
City, once took a case on a contingent
fee. the agreement being that he
should have half of what he collected.
He collected one-half of the original
claim and Informed his client of the
fact. telling his client that the half he
had already collected was his, the law
yer's, half and when he succeeded in
collecting the other half he would turn
it over to the client
OF course, the value Of a lawyers
services frequently depends on the ef-
fectiveness Of his work rather than
the time which he takes to 40 it, and
when he Accompanies important re-
suits for his client, and does it within
a day or two.- or perhaps I'm an hour or
two, 1t is hard 10 make the client be-
lieve that the services are worth as
much as the lawyer thinks they ought
to be.
A story is told Of one of the most
prominent lawyers in the city who had
an important litigation pending. and 1t
was agreed between his client and
himself that II he could secure $50 600
amount. The attorney finally, after
some negotiations, secured a settle
ment by which the client was TO receive
$4,000, and called his client in to carry
through the adjustment. The story
goes that when the client discovered
that the money was i'm sight he made a
strenuous objection to the lawyer get
ting so large a fee, whereupon the at
torney replied that the papers were not
yet signed and could be Immediately
returned TO the other party and the
settlement could be declared off The
client then thought better Of the mat
ter and accepted So, goo.
Lawyers in the country districts,
like editors in small towns. are some
times compelled TO take the amounts
due them in something beside legal
tender currency. A case of this kind
also happened TO an attorney In the
city, who related his experience TO the
writer only short time ago. The
attorney said:
I received a call from a client for
whom ! had done a small amount OF
business, who told me that he was
hard UP, but he wanted me To do
some Work for him. and suggested that
take small yacht which he owned
In payment for my services. II was.
OF course. an unusual proposition, but |
4ssented. and after ! had done the work
went up 20 take possession of the
YACHT My client went along and ex-
planned the workings OF the maohin-
ary, IL being fitted with A steam en-
CINE, the power OF which was gen.
Grated by burner which first turned
gasoline into gas and then burned a
under an ordinary tube boiler. I hired
an engineer to run the Yacht. snsrt
several times the amount Of my fee.
and took two or three trips IN the
yacht. But The boiler and the engine
were OF an antiduated pattern and
We're constantly getting out OF order.
and nnally one day the whole nachin-
cry got on fire and we were compelIed
10 jump into the water TO ESCAPE with
our lives. We were picked nm nv
some men IN rowboats The Yacht
burned TO the waters edge. and 7 sI,D-
pose 1t sank. have never seen o,.
heard anything Of 1t since. and don't
want To know anything about II
made up my mind that thereafter
would accept only cash fees for NV
services" MY