CHAPTER XXVI
SHARKS AND SHYSTERS OF OUR CRIMINAL COURTS
Within recent years there seems to be a bad odor in all of our Criminal Courts because of the sharp practices carried out by the “shyster” and “harpies” of the law. Most of these men, if they are not inferior in calibre to the other members of the bar, are intemperate in their habits. And they are severely criticised by friends and foes for their unjust dealings toward their clients. It is true, the modern lawyer is brought into fierce conflict with some of the sharpest temptations of the times, and are frequently drawn into the maelstrom from which they seek to extricate other men less fortunate than themselves. Since William Travers Jerome became District Attorney, he has sent more than a score of lawyers to prison for various acts of dishonesty, and some of them were men of prominence in the profession.
In almost every walk of life, if professional men received money for services which they promise to render and then do nothing, they are liable to prosecution for false pretenses. When lawyers treat their clients this way, they have much harsh criticism hurled at them, and deservedly.
It would be hard to estimate the number of persons who are continually robbed of money and valuables by legal sharks and shysters around the various courts of the city. Although complaints are made from time to time against these thieves, nothing is done to stop it. It is a well known fact that many of the lawyers that hang around these courts are of the poorest quality, and are often glad to get whatever comes their way. At any rate, these harpies of the law soon become adepts at “bleeding,” every victim that falls into their hands, including the prisoner, his family and friends.
As soon as a “shyster” secures a victim the first thing he does is to find out how much money he has on him. Then he demands a fee for his services which must be paid on the spot. If the prisoner has no money but has a gold watch, chain, ring or other jewelry it must be surrendered and sent to the pawn shop and the money given to the lawyer.
But if the prisoner has neither money nor jewelry, then he must give the names and addresses of his friends or relatives who are requested to furnish money for his defense. The shyster usually alarms the friends of the prisoner by telling them it is a hard case and expressing the opinion that he may be sent away for a long term of years. All this is done to deceive and make sure of a large fee.
In a great many cases the dishonest shyster intimates that he has a “pull” with the Judge or the District Attorney, to turn the prisoner on the street as soon as he gets a goodly fee, which may be a hundred dollars or five hundred dollars; not only do his promises to the prisoner prove to be absolutely false, but as soon as the shyster has entirely fleeced his victim he abandons the case, leaving the poor defenceless prisoner to the mercy of some other legal shark like himself.
A shyster who practices at Jefferson Market secured $75.00 from a prisoner on the strength of a promise to get him out of prison in two days. After he received the money he never came near him again. This is very common police court ethics.
When this same prisoner came to the Tombs he fell into the hands of another legal shark, who on the strength of a solemn promise to get him free within forty-eight hours, or at the furthest in a few days, made him sign over $80 cash which he had in the savings bank. When this last lawyer secured all his money he left him in the lurch like shyster No. 1. I know all about this case and am of the opinion that both of these lawyers should have been sent to prison and the defendant set free.
A man charged with murder and afterwards sent to the death house was given a lawyer through a “steering policeman.” The prisoner had just come out of the coroner’s office when the cop informed him that a lawyer would be sent to him by one of his friends, although he did not have a friend in the country. In less than an hour a young East Side “shyster” came to the Tombs, had him sign a paper retaining him as his attorney, and in this way secured the State’s allowance of five hundred dollars for the prisoner’s defense. This was the man’s ruin. The policeman doubtless shared the profits of iniquity with the lawyer when he fastened him on his victim. When the case came to trial the poor fellow was convicted by his own lawyer.
A poor Sicilian named Antonio fell into the clutches of a young Italian “shyster.” It was a homicide case, but the prisoner was only guilty of assault or at most manslaughter in the second degree. “For a hundred dollars,” said the “shyster,” “I will get you clear.” Antonio paid the money—all he had in the world. In a few weeks his lawyer brought him to court and made him plead guilty to murder in the second degree, so as to get rid of the case, and he was then and there sentenced to imprisonment for life. Then the lawyer disappeared. Such frauds ought to be disbarred and also jailed.
Another prisoner now in Sing Sing gave a hundred dollars to a lawyer with an unsavory reputation who frequently does business in Yorkville Court. The money was all the man was able to raise among his friends, and it was given with the full understanding that it would pay for his examination in the police court and his trial in General Sessions. That was the last the prisoner ever saw of that shyster. The prisoner wrote to him a number of times, asking him to fulfill his promise and defend him, but he paid no attention to his letters. Finally the prisoner in his desperation was compelled to ask a charity lawyer to defend him. The shyster got his money and that was all he cared for. If anybody else had swindled a man in such a manner he would be sent to the penitentiary for a year, but lawyers are allowed to rob people at will and nothing is done to them.
I personally knew the case of a German lad charged with a very serious offence. A lawyer, now dead, called him from his cell in the old Tombs to the counsel room and offered to get him discharged for one hundred dollars. He informed his married sisters (who were very poor) of the offer made him. They in turn sold their wedding rings and borrowed money to secure this lawyer his fee. Two days after receiving the money he sent word to the sisters that unless they raised $300 more he would not undertake the case. Of course they could not, and as a result they lost the $100 given this legal thief and had to secure a charity lawyer. During the trial of the young man this inhuman brute worked with the prosecution and did all he could to send him to prison. Just then Mr. Louis Stuyvesant Chanler, the poor man’s friend—God bless him for the thousands of acts of kindness he has shown to friendless prisoners—came to his rescue and aided the young man greatly.
We knew the case of a couple of Broadway lawyers who swindled a so-called “Count” of $1,000 cash and then abandoned him for some reason, which was manifestly unfair no matter what excuse they had.
There are hundreds of honest and upright lawyers in this city who would loathe to do the mean and dishonorable things done by the police court “shysters;” but there are others who are doing mean and dishonest things all the time, who bring disgrace to an honorable profession, but few try to bring them to justice.
Around all the district prisons and courts of the city may be found an army of unworthy vultures that prey upon the carcasses of the “down and out” unfortunates of all nationalities who are compelled to seek justice in such places. Not only do these “sharks” rob them of whatever they may have on them, but they send their “steerers” to the homes of the prisoners and compel them to pawn what they may have of value in the house to give them as fees. And when they have bled their victims almost to death they abandon them to their fate.
It is well known to the authorities of all the courts that the disreputable lawyers who practice there have the cases against their clients adjourned from week to week for no other reason than to bleed them of all the money in their possession. At one of the district prisons in the upper part of the city a poor man was kept there two months by a “shyster,” for the purpose of getting the last dollar out of him. As soon as the Magistrate knew the facts he was forthwith sent to the Tombs to await the action of the grand jury.
A Jefferson Market Police Court lawyer was severely reprimanded in Special Sessions because he took a fee of $20.00 from a poor girl and gave her no service in return. He was afterwards compelled to return the money before he was allowed to leave the court. And furthermore the judges promised to have him disbarred for the wrong done. But this man is only one out of hundreds that do the same thing continually.
A lawyer whom I personally knew, who was afterwards made a judge, took a thousand dollar fee from a crook who stole two thousand dollars from a woman, but refused to do anything more for him till he gave the other thousand dollars. This the crook refused to do. The result was he had to fall back on friends to get him a charity lawyer to defend him in General Sessions.
Bold brazen shysters hang around the Courts of General and Special Sessions, who, with the aid of “cunning” steerers, probation officers and frequently with the help of policemen are able to rob their clients of all they have in the world, and render little or no service in return. The wonder is that the judges do not combine to put such men out of business.
The city magistrates and judges of the criminal courts have known the situation for several years, but apparently refuse to do anything to stop the abuses. The evil at present has assumed the proportion of a plague—crushing out the very life of the poor unfortunates and their friends, who are compelled to come to terms with the shyster.
Some of our city magistrates go into spasms over the iniquities of the professional bondsmen, but they do nothing to put down the professional shyster and harpies who are allowed to rob and ruin the unfortunates daily.