their sponsor, there sprang into being herds of "sick engineers,"
fake "wire-tappers," "green-goods" swindlers, and confidence men
of all sorts, who flourished safely under the protection of the
decision of the Court of Appeals in McDuff's case.

It was but shortly after this that one of Billington's friends
found himself in the toils of the police for having pretended to
sell a package of "green goods" to a yokel from the rural part of
the State. Charlie at once engaged me to defend him, asserting
that as I was responsible for the law it was my duty to apply it
for the benefit of our clients. So once again I entered the arena
in behalf of a principle that at heart I believed to be vicious
and even absurd, and once again, to my surprise and the delight of
my new clients, I triumphed. The Appellate Division reversed the
conviction that had followed the arrest and discharged the prisoner,
asserting that there was no longer any authority for holding him
if the McDuff case was to be taken as law.

Thus it was, by such unconscious steps, that I, the only son of a
clergyman, found myself--willy-nilly--a leader of the criminal bar.
Yet at no time during my career would I have exchanged places with
my honored parent or even with Mr. Tuckerman Toddleham, of Barristers'
Hall, Boston.

CHAPTER VI

As I jot down these random reminiscences I am impressed in a singular
fashion with the fact that my career consisted entirely in the
making, or rather getting, of money and the spending of it. I had
no particular professional ambitions and never but once sought
distinction as a constitutional lawyer; and, however unworthy of
an officer of the court such a confession may be, I am quite ready
to admit that a seat upon the bench would have afforded me neither
amusement nor sufficient compensation to satisfy my desires. Let
other men find their gratification and emolument in the supposed
honor of wearing the ermine! I have never found that a judge became
any the less an erring human being after his elevation to the dais,
and I could rake out of one good semi-criminal case twice the salary
of any judge on the supreme bench. What is popularly regarded as
respectability is oft-times in reality--if the truth were known--
merely stodginess and stupidity.

I am compelled to admit that in my early days, before I had formed
my affiliation with Gottlieb, I had different ambitions, although
they were none the less worldly. Then I want