Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-02-09
ms MARTINS STATEMENT.


During the discussion Mr.. Martin asked
that the commission hear him in refer
ence to the Bartlett matter, as II was
one with which he was very familiar
His statement, as giving with some de-
tail the contention of the respondent, is
printed herewith in part THE first tax
| ever heard charging unprofessional CON
duct on the part of Mr.. Fits was that
by some means or other he had secured
the execution of a bond and also of re-
ceipt and that there was something
wrong about that. The thing Travelled
up and down the streets and l heard II
time and again and 1t was limited that
there was collision between Mr.. Fits
and myself in relation to the bond and
the receipt whereby 1t was believed by
some that Gibson or / had got double
security on that attachment. NOW What
are the facts? When that suit was
brought we trusteed s. A. Smith Co
and the Estey Organ company. They did
not wish to be tied up in trustee pro-
ceedings and they filed a bond under the
Vermont Statutes. That bond did not
release any property that had been at
tached, which consisted of large amount
of lumber. The bond was given to re-
lease them as trustees. and In order to get
the lumber which had been attached
receipt for IL was given to the sheriff 10
protect him. So that they took the lum-
Der and manufactured IL, which was
beneficial to all parties concerned In the
litigation. l should apologize to the COM
mission for taking up the time, but l
, want It stated here so that everybody
may hear IL, because some peOple-and
some good people-honestly believe that
| there was corruption and fraud in the
| execution of those two documents-the
widest. crazlest thing l ever heard
| charged against a reputable man like Mr..
! Fits when they charged him with en-
| tering into a collision upon that matter.
1--WE proceeded with the trial of that
| case and the papers show what there was
| to It, Mr.. Prescott had as counsel In
/ addition to Mr.. Fits. Mr.. Schwenk, Mr..
| Gale, John II. Senter and Elisha May
| Now I'm regard TO the raising of the ad
I damnum. l will explain about that At
| the time the suit was brought for $500
Mr.. Bartlett the plaintiff. represented to
| his counsel that there was jump settle
! ment made between him and this witness.
! Prescott: that he had lost his books and
| papers or they were mislaid; that he
| wanted some money and agreed to call
| II so much II he could get all his money,
but he did not get 1t quite all. He also
stated TO us that he thought probably 1t
was all the man was worth at that time
was the balance. taking that settlement
as a balance and going forward with IT..
| We brought suit on that basis, putting
| the ad damnum at $500. He assured us
]
had not been made he might have recov-
| cred good deal more on the johnson
contract. When the case came to trial
| the first witness called was Mr.. Prescott.
He stated he never made any settlement
| of that sort OF course We took advan-
| tage of that as best we could and asked
| leave of the court to make new speci-
! iication. which was granted and the case
was continued We made a new specih-
cation and went to trial and recovered
| more than the amount of our ad dam
mum. We made application to raise the
| ad damnum from $500 to $500. When
| that motion was made in court Mr.. Fits
| was in Boston engaged in the trial of an
| important case and Mr.. Prescott here
was represented by three good lawyers,
Schwenk, Gale and Elisha May. The
question of the ad damnum was never
passed upon at any other term except
that term, when Mr.. Fits was not here.
II has been talked on the streets time and
again that there was collision and that
Mr.. Fits sold him out The records OF
that case are right here in this room for
your honors to see The case was finally
closed up and we got judgment for twenty
odd hundred dollars The money due
from Bartlett to Crown Bailey was
taken out of that and no judgment was
ever completed in that case in the world
II was all figured up and no question
ever made about it or anything of the
sort.
These matters, which seem to be a
mystery In this community, would be nc
mystery before this board for you are
all familiar with the practice in county
court in the raising of ad damnum. 1t Il
| done at almost every term of court, as
you know II a plaintiff finds he is en-
titled to more than he originally declared
for, the ad damnum is increased, as every
lawyer knows; and, as I have stated
when the increase was made in this case
Mr. Fits was in Boston and knew moth
ing about 1t at that time"
Mr.. Spellman replied at some length
referring to the belief of Prescott that ht
was thrown down" by Mr.. Fits. HC
recited rather dramatically how Mr.
Prescott was "dlsmantled, ruined and
wrecked" The morning session CLOSED
with a statement by Colonel Hall that hi
had allowed the discussion by the attor
neys merely to outline the issue. which
was that Mr. Fits had not served hi!
client Mr.. Prescott, with fidelity. He re
peated that Mr.. Prescott would be allow
ed to testify as to any facts showing i'm
proper or unprofessional conduct on th'
| part of Mr.. Fits, but that the witnes!
would not be allowed "to tell story"
At the opening of the afternoon session
the chairman of the commission asked
Mr.. Spellman for a list of his clients whC
were present at the hearing and the at
torney promised that he would have 1
prepared. Mr.. Prescott was then callet
to the stand.