Here I must enter into a little secret history.  Any affair that threatened the integrity of Mr. Jason’s organization was of serious moment to the gentlemen of the financial world who found that organization invaluable and who were also concerned about the fair name of their community; a conference in the Boyne Club decided that the city officials were being persecuted, and entitled therefore to “the very best of counsel,”—­in this instance, Mr. Hugh Paret.  It was also thought wise by Mr. Dickinson, Mr. Gorse, and Mr. Grierson, and by Mr. Paret himself that he should not appear in the matter; an aspiring young attorney, Mr. Arbuthnot, was retained to conduct the case in public.  Thus capital came to the assistance of Mr. Jason, a fund was raised, and I was given carte blanche to defend the miserable city auditor and purchasing agent, both of whom elicited my sympathy; for they were stout men, and rapidly losing weight.  Our first care was to create a delay in the trial of the case in order to give the public excitement a chance to die down.  For the public is proverbially unable to fix its attention for long on one object, continually demanding the distraction that our newspapers make it their business to supply.  Fortunately, a murder was committed in one of our suburbs, creating a mystery that filled the “extras” for some weeks, and this was opportunely followed by the embezzlement of a considerable sum by the cashier of one of our state banks.  Public interest was divided between baseball and the tracking of this criminal to New Zealand.

Our resentment was directed, not so much against Commissioner Greenhalge as against Krebs.  It is curious how keen is the instinct of men like Grierson, Dickinson, Tallant and Scherer for the really dangerous opponent.  Who the deuce was this man Krebs?  Well, I could supply them with some information:  they doubtless recalled the Galligan, case; and Miller Gorse, who forgot nothing, also remembered his opposition in the legislature to House Bill 709.  He had continued to be the obscure legal champion of “oppressed” labour, but how he had managed to keep body and soul together I knew not.  I had encountered him occasionally in court corridors or on the street; he did not seem to change much; nor did he appear in our brief and perfunctory conversations to bear any resentment against me for the part I had taken in the Galligan affair.  I avoided him when it was possible....  I had to admit that he had done a remarkably good piece of work in collecting Greenhalge’s evidence, and how the, erring city officials were to be rescued became a matter of serious concern.  Gregory, the district attorney, was in an abject funk; in any case a mediocre lawyer, after the indictment he was no help at all.  I had to do all the work, and after we had selected the particular “Railroad” judge before whom the case was to be tried, I talked it over with him.  His name was Notting, he understood perfectly what was required of him, and that he was