The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-28
Author of .erhe story

What appears to be a deliberate at- tempt to rob client of mine, cor poration, was made in a damage suit dis b0sc2. of just recently" said Attorney David s. Anderson. "A suit was brought by negro by the name ot-well, we will ! call him Shannon-for the sum of $2O,OOV | damages for alleged serious injuries claimed to have been received at one of the blast furnaces in this city.
 "The negro, notwithstanding his very serious CD injuries, which were graphical 1y set out in the complaint rushed fran- tically to a lawyers office the day fol- lowing the alleged accident and filed suit, : alleging in his complaint that he had notice carefully the tense of the verb | .had,-lost much valuable time, and had paid out large sums for medicine and doctors bills, when, as matter of fact, less than twenty-four hours had elapsed since the time of the alleged accident and he had not paid out a cent for med icine or doctors bills. In due time the trial came on.. The plaintiff on the trial, testified that he had never before been -ljured In any work, and that by the accident at the furnace he was rendered .so helpless as never to be able to do a days work again. Proof that his in- jurles were permanent and incurable was also made by two local physicians. It was urged, for instance, by the negro and his doctors, that the negro could not even bend over to put on his own shoes could neither dress, nor take a step without great difficulty, and that accordingly he had been obliged to hire a nurse ever since the accident, and an other negro was dramatically called into the court room to remove his shoes and socks to exhibit an alleged injury.
 During the course of the trial 1t de- veloped that the plaintiff had previously carried accident insurance policies with two insurance companies, and defrauded at least one of them out of some $50, claiming to have been injured in wreck on the Frisco, whereas he was at the very time of the alleged accident on the Frisco in the employ of the Alabama Great Southern railroad and was on duty on the day of the alleged accident as a fireman and when the insurance com pany got after him to make restitution he admitted, as testified to by the in- surance agent. that he had forged the name of the foreman on the Frisco to the F certificate of the alleged accident and duration of his disability, and fraudulent- 1y obtained the money in that way.
 When this circumstance came to light it put another color on things, and the Jury very properly brought in verdict for the defendant.
 Not Lacking in Nerve
 ''The- negro had the nerve to apply for 8 new trial. however. Several weeks passed
 T happened to be coming down the street one day when I noticed this dar5ey Shannon. His head was bandaged up to quite a formidable size, resembling the head-wear of a Hindu, but he was sham bling along as Timber and supple as a dancing master. A friend and I followed him a couple of, blocks and it seemed the verdict had wrought wonderful results Ordinarily verdict for the plaintiff will cure any injury, especially the subjective kind, but actually here was case where verdict for the defendant had brought the same wonderful results and the plaintiff was cured. possibly unconscious ly, however. shannon paused to talk tc a friend and I spoke. saying:
 Hello. Shannon, what is the matter with your head? You seem to have il tied up. What is the matter?"
 "Well, lawyer, it Is like this," he re- piled, Is been in an accident on the Southern; an engine turned over with me coming out of Atlanta night before last.''
 What were you doing on the engine?
 T was firn', boss?"
 "And yet some of the railroad boys will tell you it takes a weak mind and a strong back to fire locomotive.'
 'I thought then of the two doctors who had sworn in the court room that Shan non could not ever again likely do any work; that he could not dress himself and that he could not put on or off his own shoes. He certainly fooled those doctors, and his lawyers, too, didn't hei
 Well, the second trial was not be- the motion was overrued
 Shannon, it seems, went to severa lawyers and offered them his case after the suit was brought and incidentally tried to obtain loan from them on the strength of the case. Among them was one who telephoned me, saying Shannon was then in his office and had told him of his accident at the furnaces, and was | in desperate circumstances and wanted to know what I would pay to settle the \ claim. and that Shannon wanted to bor- TOW $3S, agreeing to sign up with him and give him his case if he loaned it.
 ''Well, that was. of course. a pretty old trick. l told the lawyer that suit was already pending, and gave the names oi the attorneys for the plaintiff My friend thanked me and said something about a 'grafter and hung up the phone. Evl- dently Shannon went out without the s3S | 'I am wondering how many other law. yers he visited, giving an assumed name probably obtaining small loan. This is N an old trick, too. and is almost daily | practiced on young lawyers, but old law H yers, you know, are wise, and ."scarcely H ever let the same dog bite them twice '