The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-06-19
FORTUNES IN FAT FEES.
Cases Where the Lawyer Has Got a
Million. and the Doctor Almost as
Much.

4 Cases Where the Lawyer Has Got
Million. and the Doctor Almost as
/ Much.
A million dollars :@.or a fee! AS
much pay for brief transaction as
the owners of some Americas largest
industries are able To make in life
time
I, is a well-to-do citizen IN this
country whose earnings through lite
reach $4,000. What Of the man
who. in payment for a single service
taking only a few weeks or days, may
collect as much as twenty prosperous
men earn in long lives of toll?
/ That the day of the nlillion-dollar
fee has come is shown by one bona
6de and another partially authenti-
eated instance recently disclosed.
That James B. Dill Of New York re-
ee;yed a cool million for settling
steel, corporation dispute has been as
serted as a fact: that William Nelson
cornwell made s1,e0o,e0o, or possibly
100000, by negotiating the sale OF
the Panama canal is sub rosa as
sertion.
One of the most difficult achieve
ments of the century was the selling
OF the Panama. canal to the United
states, and well-informed persons
agree that even if William Nelson
Cromwell did not get s1,ooo,ooo or
| 50, 900 for it, he earned it.
He even risked mis- life to make. his
negotiations successful. One day
while the treaty was under discussion
in Washington it looked very much
as if the whole project would fall
through. But one man could save it.
Where was Cromwell? Friends OF
| the canal. found upon inquiring at
his hotel that he was in bed very Ill,
with a temperature Of 1O3. Yet upon
learning Of the situation, he arose,
| drove to Secretary Hays Office, stayed
With him an hour, then returned to
the hotel and lay battling with ty-
rhoid fever for six weeks.
But the canal was bought
/ Before a senate committee Mr..
Cromwell admitted having received
ssoo. coo. and said he expected more.
How much? Only the gossip Of Wall
/ street attempts to answer, and this
places the total amount at almost So
/ 900, 900. The canal cost 4o.oo0,ooo-
This isn't Mr.. Cronwell's first big
fee. For reorganizzng the firm OF
Decker, Howell & Co., in 1891, he re-
eeived from the court s2eo,ooo. He
IS said to have got sloo-aoo fee on
another occasion.
One of the deepest nudales IN
American industrial history was the
series Of disputes between andrew
Carnegie and Henry c. Friek over the
transfer of the properties merged in
the United States steel Corporation,
There are those who say that James
T. nill-he has since become a judge
on the New Jersey bench at a compa-
ratively small salary-was the only
nan in the country who could have
uatangled the mess; that the joo vas
worth the $4,000 he received.
The group of attorneys who secured
payment by the government OF ths
long-deferred claims of the Cherokee
/ Indians some time ago, amounting to
i SIS. 600, 900, were allowed 15 per cent
cf the whole. or nearly s750,Ooo. OF
this fee. it is said. a great part went
to one man or firm.
a fee Of ssoo,ooo i, said to have
been paid to a New York lawyer, VIII
liam D. Guthrie, for breaking the VIII
of the late Henry 3. Plant. owner OF
system Of steamships. railways and
hotels. OF the s24,oo0,0oo estate the
widows share was sS.0oo.0oo, and, as
this was tied. up in trust. she engaged
counsel to secure it's release, giving
him 10 per cent. of her share.
Another large attorneys fee re-
Gently granted in court decision at
Seattle, Wash, was tnat Of United
States Senator S. H. Piles, who VII
get s450,00O in the famous John Sui
Ivan will case. The estate is valued
at 100000, and two of the heirs gave
deeds of conveyance to their counse
fcr half the amount.
Modest in all things, the city ol
Milwaukee, Wis, would, Of course. be
expected to furnish examples Of mod
est legal fees. Witness these charges
in the Schandein will case, recently
closed: Frisbee & Radfel6. attorneys
for Mrs. Clara s. Heyl, 100000,
Quarles. Spencer & Quarles. for the