The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02
SOUTHERNER PAID
BIG FEE BY THAW
LittIetsn Paid $4,000 for De-
Tending Young Millionaire
LEGAL HELP COMES HIGH
Many Lawyers Get 500 COO Fees.
Cromwell Got $1,000, ooo-What
Our Heresses Take Abroad.
Great Auto Races.
BY sEWELL HAGGARD.

SE w ELL 1AGGA NJ,
New York. February 1.-Martn W. Lit
Teton southerner who has made his
mark as a lawyer here. has just received
a fee of at least $4,000 for defending
Harry X. Thaw. Litteton is a Tonnes
sean. and lived in Texas several years
before coming to New York. lie wasn't
slow in catching on.
Democratic politicians took him up be-
cause he. was a bright chap and he could
make a speech; a quality that is lacking
In most democratic politicians hereabouts
Littleton served as borough president Of
Brooklyn for one term and then retired
to practice his profession: there ism t
much money for a clean man in holding
office in New York.
His fee of $4,000 in the Thaw case IS
twice as much as he could make in 4
year by holding office, but it isn't a big
fee as lawyers fees 90. Among the
great lawyers 100000 fees are not unus-
ual, and William Nelson Cromwell. the
Physician of Wall Street" received ST.
000G00 when he bought the Panama
canal.
Cromwell is the foremost representative
of new type of lawyer. the skilled reor-
ganzer of wrecked business enterprises
His first big case brought him $26d. ono
but this and the many great cases that
have since added to Mr. Cromwell's fame
were overshadowe by his fee for the
Panama canal deal. Busy as he was
here, Mr.. Cromwell found time to look
into the higher politics of Central and
South America. How he got track of the
situation in Panama is a mystery When
he became general counsel for the new
Panama Canal company in 1896. the 18TH
milan route hardly had a friend in this
country. He quietly started the cam
paign to have the United States buy the
property. won over the French bond
holders, gained supporters for the scheme
in this country. and finally offered the
United States the option of the canal for
Sl0,000.000. What came after-the failure
of the Hay-Herran treaty. the Panama
revolution, said to have been planned In
New York, and the fastening of the ne
sotiations-is familiar history. But as a
monument to the genius of Mr. Cromwell
was Il fee the like of which can hardly
be paraleed in the history of the legal
profession. 1t was not a fee properly
speaking, but a commission. The lowest
estimate of it is 100000. In reality, Mr..
Cromwell's profits have been estimated
as nearer 100000
William D. Guthrie received fee some
where between 100000 and Sl,0o0,0O0 in the
Plant viii ease. He was counsel for
AlfS. Margaret j. IidHl TIE NluON u
Harry Bradley Plant. the aged railroad
magnate. When Mr. Plant died, in June,
1900, at New Haven, Conn. his estate
was worth S11000s00 The point in the
contest was whether Mrs. Plant should
receive an annuity OF $4,000 by the terms
of the will or have tle will set aside and
get about 81 900 The contest depended
on codicil making the heirs of Mr.
| Plants G-year-old grandson the residuary
| lesatees and tying up the fortune until
the youngest son of the grandson reached
his majority.
When the case came up for trial before
Justice Leventritt, in the supreme court
seven years ago, lawyers believed that
the suit was doubtful one. The codicil
could be set aside if the will was offered
for probate in New York. Connecticut
was the only state in which such a pro-
vision would be legal.
So the case turned on a question of dom
icile-whether Mr.. Plant was resident
of New York or of Connecticut. He went
to Connecticut for a few days before his
death. so the contestant claimed, to avoid
the New York law and establish resi-
dence in New Haven
Lawyers say that Mr.. Guthrie deserved
all the credit he got for winning the
suit To his persistence in gathering evil
dence that should make AIr. Plant New
Yorker and set aside the codicil to his
skill in presenting it and questioning the
witnesses Mrs. Plant owed the s7.000.000
her attorney won for her Mr. Guthries
fee is said to have been between 10 and
IA per cent of this fortune.
Lawyers who advise the big corpora
tons how to keep just within the law
receive fat fees. Secretary Root is look
ed upon as the foremost cor Grafton law
yer of the country. Mr.. Root gave up a
l.. tod
$4,000 to 100000 year to take place
in the cabinet paying $4,000 year. This
was when he succeeded Secretary Russell
A. Alger of the war department.
But most typical of all the corporation
lawyers is q mon who has his office in
remote room ON an upper floor of a
William street skyscraper. He is John
+. Parsons, a New Yorker born and
bred, legal advisor for big corporations
and estates, and as lawyer believed
to have the finest practice in the coun-
try.
Mr.. Parsons is reputed to have receiv-
ed one of the largest fees ever taken by
a lawyer when headrew up the charter
of the Sugar Trust. According to COM
mon report he realized 100000 for this
service. AS general counsel for the trust
he also defended it during the attack
| upon the combination a few years ago
| That defense is said to have added an
| other 100000 to his fortune.
Then there, is the general practitioners.
| Ex-Ambassador Joseph TT. Choate is A
! typical example, and John G.. Johnson
of Philadelphia is another Speaking IA
cetiously of Mr.. Choate at public dinner.
Chauncey NJ. Depew is said to have re-
marked that ''only unselfsh millionaires
could employ Mr. Choate as their law
yer because they would have to give up
| about all they had to pay his fees
Mr. Choate is said to have received
fees of 100000 on a number of occasions.
When he was named as ambassador to
England by President Mckinley in 1898,
| he had earned a fortune in his forty-two
| years of practice amounting to something
| over S1000,000 At that time his income
! chiefly from his law practice was estl-
| mated at 100000 a year. 1t is said of
! Mr.. Choate that he would probably be