James Pech's Dismissal as Conductor of the Church Music Association

“Trouble ahead. Rev. Cooke tells me of charges against Dr. Pech, to be investigated by letters of inquiry. He is accused of assuming an academic title that does not belong to him—and of marrying America, though already married in England. I trust these charges may prove unfounded. His professional rivals & competitors hate him bitterly because he has succeeded where they have failed, and they have convinced themselves, without due examination & inquiry, that this, that & the other rumor is true & committed themselves to the assertion of its truth. But I have forebodings. There has been, from the first, a certain mystery about this gentleman.”

“Rev. Cooke tells me that letter from Rev. Lighte & Sir Fred G. Ousely only confirm certain allegations [charges against Dr. Pech] he mentioned to me November 30. Very unfortunate. Advised Cooke to maintain the deadest silence about the matter till after May 2^nd [final C. M. A. concert of the season, May 3]. Then I fear a certain pet apple-cart of ours will be finally upset.”

"Cooke thinks he cannot take the responsibility of holding back these English letters any longer & means to place them in the rector’s hands at once. I cannot say he is wrong. Then there will be an explosion, unless [Pech] plead the general issue & demand further investigation. Of course he must be treated as not guilty till he has had an opportunity to produce evidence. But it’s a detestable business altogether."

"Then I had an hour’s solemn talk with Edmund Schermerhorn, in 23^rd St. The question before us [the charges against James Pech] may prove ugly & painful, but it is plainly our present duty to think no evil until we cannot help it—to put the most charitable construction on the case—as now presented, which it can possibly bear, and if it be finally proven, to give the unfortunate news all the benefit we can, of a moral statute of limitations, & of eight or nine years of decorous life.”

“Rev. Cooke came in this afternoon with a letter from Morgan Dix, who contemplates laying the papers in the P[ech] case before the vestry at its next meeting, Monday week. This would be equivalent to making these charges public & would be all wrong & unjust, unless P[ech] is first allowed an opportunity of saying in private, whether he pleads guilty or not guilty, & whether he will undertake to produce sufficient evidence in his own defense within a certain reasonable & definite period. I have just written a long letter to the rector stating my views, & I think he can hardly fail to see that he ought to give P[ech] this chance, if only pro forma.”

“But this hateful affair of [Pech]’s keeps everything unsettled & worried me awake half last night. I get no reply yet from the rector. What a shame & pity that after his reputable life here in New York (wholly reputable except for carelessness about money matters, a sin that doth so easily beset everybody who has anything to do with art) he should be suddenly blown up & destroyed by the disclosure of malfeasances in England ten years ago. It is especially aggravating that the probable explosion will have been caused by the envy, hatred & malice of his colleagues in Trinity Parish, especially of that lemon-faced slabsided Morgan, who has never forgiven [Pech] for making the C. M. A. succeed while the ‘Euterpe’ failed ignominiously. These accusers ([‘kategoros’ in Greek]) made the statements that brought this trouble about, and no matter how guilty [Pech] may be, I shall hate to see their professional jealousy & malignity triumph. But [Pech] may be able to clear himself, though I hardly dare hope it.”

“Rev. Cooke says that Pen. Hosack, the Wilkes, & other St. John’s people complain that Pech neglects his work, that the complaint is well founded, and that he (Cooke) has with difficulty prevented Hosack from exploding his grievances at the next vestry meeting. Pech is certainly a heavy load for his friends to carry. But he is a valuable man, & we must try to carry him a little longer—if we can.”

“PECH—We cannot get on with him, I regret to say. He is too reckless about expenditure—a case of money blindness, as others are of color blindness. At our last committee meeting we discussed the probability of a small deficit, passed resolutions to retrench wherever retrenchment was possible, & reduced the 1^st edition of our programme to 1000 copies. Pech was present & in full accord with us. But he increased the cost of our orchestra to 50 per cent above that of the ‘Requiem’ performance, which was exceptionally large—and proceeded to print a ‘progamme’ of 36 quarto pages, more than thrice as costly as any programme that has preceded it. These, & other expensive blunders, have cumulated in a deficit of nearly $2000.00. I foot it in the first instance, which is unpleasant. To receive contributions from Edmund Schermerhorn & Charles C. Dodge is not altogether agreeable. Pech must be thrown over, & the beloved C. M. A. will probably perish, for I don’t believe we can find so efficient & unselfish a conductor. I propose to withdraw from the direction, & Rev. Cooke & Jem [Gerard, Jr.] will do likewise. Our secession will be a fearful blow to poor Pech—but there is something much worse that awaits him—an inquiry into the statements of Sir F. G. Ouseley, etc. I told the rector this morning that I knew of no reason why such inquiry should be farther postponed.”

“The rector has moved at last in Pech’s case, & has acted, I think, with great discretion & humanity. He wholly ignores the graver charges against Pech, & invites his resignation on the ground that his duties as Kapell-Meister have been & are grossly neglected (e.g. he has absented himself from 21 services during the last 4 months, without leave & without apology) & the congregation of St. John’s is discontented.

These graver charges therefore need not be made public.

Long conference with Rev. Cooke this morning about this painful business, & afterwards with Edmund Schermerhorn. Have been hourly expecting a call from Pech. Nothing can account for his not coming to me for advice, immediately after receiving the rector’s letter, except his unwillingness to meet me after running up these unauthorized & extravagant bills against the C. M. A. which I have got to pay out of my own pocket in the first instance—partly reimbursed hereafter by one or two of my colleagues. It is doubtless for the same reason that Edmund has seen nothing of him since our last concert. It’s a pity he has not called here, for though our interview would have been uncomfortable, I think I could have given him advice that would have enabled him to postpone any final catastrophe for some months, & perhaps to avert it indefinitely. This will be a terrible blow to him. Where can he find Mrs. Pech & her babies their daily bread? He will feel ever more keenly the breaking up of the C. M. A. directors. And these shocks come upon him just after the culminating triumph of his artist life in New York—his successful production of the ‘posthumous Mass,’ of which any director might be proud.”

“Before going uptown I called on the rector & had a conference about poor Pech. The rector agreed to postpone action till the June vestry meeting. He is anxious to avoid any discussion of the charges made by Sir F. G. Ousely & Dr. (?) Lighte, & will base his movement on dissatisfaction of the St. John’s people—the interests of the parish—& on nothing else. So that if Pech resigns, he will go out with a fair record. Pech came to see me at half past seven, but our interview had to be brief, for I was due at a vestry meeting. He was dejected & flaccid. Told him to come here tomorrow at 8.”

“[Pech] called last evening—for a painful interview. He gave me his unfortunate story with seeming frankness & in full detail. In 1849 he ran away with a woman older than himself, & below him in social position, & married her clandestinely, he being then nineteen. She proved vicious, false, cantankerous & incorrigible. She threatened his life, broke up his professional engagements by malignant pranks, & so harassed & degraded him that after six or seven years of torment, he abandoned her. She stipulated not to molest him, and he has annually remitted to her some 60 or 100 pounds. Mrs. [Pech] no. 2 is fully aware of the premises, and don’t [sic] mind. As to his alleged Oxford degree (‘Mus. Doc. Oxon.’) he says that having proceeded bachelor he is entitled to the doctorate whenever he applies for it (which I do not believe to be the case) & that he therefore thought himself authorized to write himself ‘Doctor’ of Oxford.

He is a bundle of strange inconsistencies—good points & bad—strengths & weaknesses. I gave him a great deal of advice—such as it was, and much genuine sympathy. He must change his base & leave New York.

The aggravating or irritating feature of the case is that P[ech] is thus destroyed by the professional envy & jealousy of his colleagues in Trinity Parish. But for them—(& M[organ]—especially) this scandal, of more than 20 years ago, would never have been forced on the rector’s notice. As an artist & conductor, P[ech] is worth ten dozen of them, but they found a weak spot in his armor, & have killed him. He may say to Morgan, as the Scottish earl (in ‘Tales of a Grandfather’) said to his murderer, ‘you have spoiled a better face than your own.’”

“Long visit last evening from the polygamous P[ech]. He does not see the situation aright. He ascribes his downfall wholly to the hatred and malice of envious men, & considers his own hands to be washed in innocency. It is a sad business. He does not seem even yet to have begun to look his gloomy future squarely in the face—& to be aware that he is eligible to five years maintenance at public charge—entitled to [Greek phrase]. C. M. A.=$2530.00.”

“Conference this morning with Rev. Cooke. Should the C. M. A. survive to another season, it cannot carry P[ech]. His enemies are too many and know too much, and as soon as he is ‘with sighing sent’ out of Trinity Parish, they will talk consumedly. For they will of course understand that his resignation is a cognovit, or a plea of guilty to their charges. Poor P[ech]!!! With all his faults, we cannot fill his place.”

“Long talk with Pech. He is much cut up & deeply to be pitied. It is all his own fault, of course, but so are more than half the woes and troubles of humanity (calamaties like poor Hacket’s excepted). He will leave the country and end his days in some obscure corner. It’s a dismal close to what promised to be a splendid career. Though loaded down with faults of manner and of temper, he was fast winning his way to the highest rank in his profession, and not without hope of gaining the ‘social position’ he so longed for. But his defeated professional rivals discovered somehow that he had made a blunder twenty-three years ago, and another few years later, they have used the two to destroy him. I dare say John P. Morgan will soon suggest himself as conductor of the C. M. A. I should like to receive the suggestion, & to give Morgan my answer.”

P[ech] has had a full conference with the rector and was treated with a kindness & sympathy he did not expect—‘a tenderness,’ he called it. Morgan Dix’s manner is apt to mislead people into thinking him cold & stern—a most unrighteous judgment. But P[ech] cannot, or will not, see the situation as it is. He persists in tracing his downfall to his ‘boyish indiscretion of more than twenty years ago,’ and not to the bigamy committed long afterwards.”

“Just from a Trinity Church vestry meeting…Poor Pech’s resignation accepted. Proposition to make him a parting present rather demurred to, but referred at last to rector & standing committee with power, ‘not exceeding $1000.00,’ which is fully up to my expectations, if not a little beyond them.”

“Dickon [Richard Henry Derby] here awhile tonight—also Dr. Pech, who seems to have given up his ploy of going ahead. It was not a pleasant conference. He took a querulous position to which he is not entitled & talked of his wrongs & persecutions in a way that was cantankerous & unbecoming. He regards Rev. Cooke, who has fought for him inch by inch, as his secret enemy, & as undermining him. I don’t think he grasps the notion that bigamy is wrong, & seems to me quite deficient in moral sense—‘moral-blind,’ as people are ‘color-blind.’ Gave him a little piece of my mind, & shall have to give him a still bigger piece, if he talks to me this way again.”

“Conference with Rev. Cooke, who likes Pech’s present style of talk as little as I do, & will fight his battles no longer.”

“Mrs. Pech here this afternoon—poor soul. A painful interview, though the lady controlled herself & maintained her dignity & behaved very nicely—especially if one considers the delicacy of the case with which she was dealing, & that she is not entitled to call herself ‘Mrs. Pech’ It is a fearful case to contemplate. I do not see how they & their babies are to be kept out of the almshouse. Pech has no communication & is alienating his best friends, e.g. Rev. Cooke, to whom he has written a most indiscreet letter. I suppose he must be borne with, as being a ‘genius.’”

“Long & lamentable letter from Mrs. Pech. She carries loyalty to a (titular) husband very far.”

“Long ‘consult’ this evening with Rev. Cooke, about C. M. A., & about Pech, The ‘Salamanca Doctor.’  We must get rid of him. But I fear he will give us trouble yet. I want to detach him with the least possible laceration of his feelings. But he has no claim on our forbearance. He has compromised us all in various ways. He led us by most earnest personal solicitations, to endeavor to obtain him the degree of L. L. D. from Columbia College—mainly on the strength of his alleged Oxford doctorate of music. This doctorate was never conferred on him, & his excuses for assuming that title—viz. that had he remained in England he would have been entitled to it ‘in course’—is preposterous. Now that he is convicted as an imposter, people will grin at me. Never mind, it’s a far more serious business for Mrs. Pech & her babies.”

“Newspapers announce that Miss Susanna Evans—i.e. indomitable little Mrs. Pech—is ready for engagements as lecturer. Poor little woman, her pluckiness under disaster does her credit, & makes me envy her.”

“Another letter from Mrs. Pech, who evidently expects the ‘doctor’ to be retained as conductor of the C. M. A. in case that organization survive. He was selected for that place, she writes, & for his position at St. John’s, ‘on account of his ability & not of his morality,’ & his elimination from his Kapell-Meister-ship was a hardship & injustice. There are queer people in this world.”

“Conference of an hour with Rev. Cooke & Jem [Gerard, Jr.] about C. M. A. Charles C. Dodge telegraphs me a subscription of $500.00. How nice it must be to be rich! This carries us up to $4280.00, not far behind where we were this time last year. We have as applicants for Pech’s place, Horsley of St. John’s, Reiff, a Philharmonic director, Reinhold Hermann, Ritter, & one Mueitz from Vienna. Must write to Pech & invite his resignation. Wonder whether he will turn upon us & sue for pay as conductor during these three years. He is unlikely to do it, unless instigated by his smart little ‘Mrs. Pech’—who is now lecturing as ‘Miss Susanna Evans.’ Such a suit could be successfully defended, I think, but it would be a bore.”

“Call from poor Pech this morning & an interview of more than an hour, during which I dealt with him very plainly. He don’t [sic] want to give up the C. M. A. & of course I had to go into our reasons for making a jettison of him. He denied their sufficiency—& put forward a volume of arguments & dodges. I never knew a man more deficient in moral sense, or more illogical & slippery. He is suffering from the envy & jealousy of the organists of Trinity Parish—these transactions are of ancient date—there are other musical people in the city whose matrimonial arrangements are irregular—he would have been entitled to Oxford doctorate in course, had he remained in England. Rev. Cooke has always been secretly hostile to him & striving to undermine him (!)—the amount he was to expend in printing & on extra rehearsals was never precisely defined—when he said he cared nothing for salary & preferred that our subscription fund be applied to increasing the effect of concerts, he took it for granted he was to be permanent conductor of the association—he supposed a remarriage after seven years separation was valid—also that his first marriage was a nullity because a minor cannot make a valid contract, etc. He talked with the insincerity, but without the subtlety of a Greek of the Lower Empire, and made many irrelevant statements of fact which I could not contradict, but which I do not in the least believe. I clearly see that he is tending toward a formal demand of money for past services, after all his boasted disinterestedness, & his insisting on being allowed to spend for other purposes, money that should have been paid him, & after bringing on us, personally, deficits of $2500.00. I fear Pech is very base metal. I was surprised to find myself able to go through so painful an interview with so little embarrassment, & to silence Pech at last. But he is like an eel, with no help but in his slipperiness & quite unable to assume the offensive, defend himself with masculine vigor, or with anything but subterfuges. I felt as if I were bullying him, all the time.”

"After my last interview with Pech, I was not much surprised by a brief note this morning purporting to be his, but manifestly copied by him from a draft furnished him by some attorney, for it was terse & clear, whereas his communications are generally diffuse & mucilaginous. It is in substance ‘If I am continued as conductor of the C. M. A. I will permit the amount already due me to remain for further consideration. If not, I expect its immediate payment. Yours truly, James Pech.’ The dirty dog! After insisting on our expending the amount of our subscriptions on extra rehearsals & the like, because he cared nothing about compensation, after parading his disinterested love of art, & his gratuitous services, in all our circulars & programmes, & after throwing deficits of $2500.00 on us by his violation of our instructions, he now turns round & asks us to pay, out of our own pockets, some large sum for these ‘gratuitous’ services. I think shrewd little Mrs. Pech has put him up to this—& I think we can beat him in the lawsuit which he evidently contemplates. After this note, we of course throw him over, hold no farther intercourse with him, and take no farther trouble to conceal his malfeasances, or promote his professional interests. I am sorry he proves so utterly unworthy & base, for I have fought his battles & maintained him against assailants, almost daily, for three years at least, & have seriously compromised myself in thus upholding him. But it would seem that that scurrilous ‘Mr. Charles Jerome Hopkins’ estimated him more justly than I did.”

“Jem & Cooke agree with me that Pech should be thrown over without farther ceremony. He was evidently born without moral sense –without perception of right & wrong. This is his misfortune rather than his fault.”

“That wretched scallywag, Pech, has been running up a bill at Schirmer’s for music we never even heard of, and it seems he has in his hands a large portion of our orchestral parts, which he will doubtless not give up, except on compulsion.”

“It seems Pech has been receiving a commission of 33 per cent on all our purchases of music! How he has swindled us!”

“Mr. Todd was here this evening—talking of Pech’s affairs, which are not smiling. The cad still talks about suing for services to the C. M. A. but I do not much expect a suit.”

“Received a lawyer’s letter from one C. W. Brooke, attorney for James Pecus [Pech], demanding $4500.00 for services to C. M. A. He is a squirt, & a geyser among squirts.”

“No trace yet of the C. M. A. music stolen by Pech & worth $1000.00 at least. It is probably pawned. Little Bower the librarian is investigating the subject with zeal & good will (for he hates Pech), but without success. The general detestation of Pech is quite remarkable. Everybody abominates him—music dealers, Philharmonic musicians, members of C. M. A. chorus, Bohemians of the press, chorus at St. John’s, & so on, down to the assistant janitor of Trinity Chapel Schoolhouse. Except his wife, I am aware of no one who stands by the unfortunate scamp. I never knew a man with like talent for calling forth antipathy & aversion. It seems strange that Edmund Schermerhorn, Rev. Cooke, & I should have been willing to fight his battles so long. It is not much to our credit to have been so imposed upon.

Everything I hear of Horsley is in his favor, but I will not identify myself with another ‘exile of Albion’ till I know something of his antecedents. Pech was introduced to me by a bishop, or rather a presbyter, on the eve of the Episcopate (RL Rev. Young of Florida). But at the very inception of the C. M. A., Schirmer, the music seller, warned me that Pech was a swindler & a humbug. I ought to have found that out myself from his doings a year or two before, when he proposed to get up a ‘church choral society’ (I think that was its title) to consist of the combined choirs of Trinity Parish, & printed a pamphlet on the subject, in which [John Jay] Cisco, John Astor, Jem Ruggles, & I appeared as presidents & vice presidents, etc. When called to account for using our names without asking our consent, he said that the printed papers he distributed were merely ‘proofs,’ & subject to our approbation or disapprobation, though they had been printed six months before. Cisco never forgave this liberty with his name. Jem saw from the beginning that Pech was not a ‘true man.’ I saw that too. I saw that his statements of fact were not to be received as absolutely true. But he was so efficient a choral drill-master, that I studiously ignored his faults & short-comings.”

“Pech (Pecus) was present [at the CMA concert] with one of his wives. As an article has just appeared in ‘Watson’s Art Journal,’ eulogizing Pech, & denouncing the C. M. A. executive committee for leaving his three years’ labors unpaid, I thought it possible the cad might propose getting on his legs during the entr’acte, & making a speech or some other disturbance, so I asked the janitor (Gerst) & one of the ministering policemen to ‘lay for him’ should be become unpleasant. But he kept quiet, & (to do him justice) he is said to have joined heartily in the applause, which was unusually copious, & in the encore of one of the Walpurgis Nacht choruses—poor foolish vain pretender, I wonder how he lives, & wish I could do a little something for his babies…

Pecus’ position is simply this. He pressed his gratuitous services upon us as conductor, and in that capacity became one of our managing committee. At the end of our first season we told him that we were unwilling he should work for nothing, & included in our published estimate of expenses for subsequent seasons a conductor’s salary, fixed by himself. As he became more & more extravagant in his expenditures as our executive officer, we warned him verbally & in writing, fifty times, that he was expending money that ought to go into his own pocket, & begged him to be more moderate. His answer always was that any increase in the brilliancy of the concerts would redound to his credit, improve his ‘social position,’ & be worth more to him than the money. So he not only spent all the subscriptions but ran us personally in debt some three thousand dollars besides. And now he considers himself ill-treated, threatens to sue for his ‘salary,’ & attacked us in the papers for our meanness in letting him serve gratuitously. To be sure this is unimportant. Nobody sees Watson’s Art Journal, & everybody who knows Pech knows that he is a scallywag.”

“The amiable Watson is polite enough to send me a copy of the last number of his ‘Art Journal,’ which contains a scurrilous attack on me by name. He says I sent a ‘communication’ to some paper called ‘The Arcadian,’ whereas I not only did nothing of the sort, but was not ever aware of the existence of that doubtless important & influential periodical. Of course he denounces me for the baseness & meanness with which the C. M. A. has treated Pech, but says nothing about Pech’s having swindled the directors, or some of them, out of $3000.00 in cash, & perhaps $1000.00 more in music scores by him fraudulently & feloniously appropriated. The Pechophile also states that Pech has brought suit for $4500.00 salary against the C. M. A., & that it is a case of ‘talent against wealth,’ codfish aristocracy, etc. I have not yet heard of this suit. If it be begun, Pech will have hard work before he gets his judgment. But all this is a nuisance.”

“James R. came in, & we discoursed—inter alia—of that cad James Pech.

As a specimen of what the snob can do, vide this ‘Art Journal’ article of his, ‘I twice conducted musical performances,’ he says, ‘at Mr. Strong’s house, for which I received no compensation.’ I should as soon have thought of him tendering me compensation for the dinners & suppers he ate here, & my little delicate tentative inquiries about the propriety of an honorarium were always repelled with such grandeur that I did not dare press the subject. I thought I was doing him a great kindness in bringing him into contact with a great number of nice people & giving him an opportunity to show what he could do as a musician. (These performances were in 1868 & 1869.) And he was very grateful for it at that time, & borrowed money of me quite freely. Which loans have not been repaid.”

“Served with summons & a voluminous complaint this morning. Pech, plaintiff vs. members of the C. M. A. committee. Claim some $5000.00 for ‘services.’ I think we can send this dirty dog out of court with his tail between his legs.”

“I hear that Pech’s real name is Peck, and that he Germanifed himself when he did this country the honor to adopt it. Also that in 1860 placards were posted in London & advertisements inserted in the London Times offering 5 pounds reward for his apprehension, he having deserted his wife & children & left them chargeable to the parish—Islington or Kensington or some other parish. Pech means pitch, & my experience certainly shows that one cannot touch Pech without being defiled or at least subjected to humiliating annoyance & bother.”

“Busy tonight on an elaborate answer to the complaint of Peck, the malevolent cad. ‘Paroxysms speciale tibi dabo, o Pecus’ (I will give thee particular fits, O Peck), as the Psalmist has it—Psalmo nescio quo.”

“Handed Drake (of counsel for defendant) my draft of an answer to Pech’s complaint, to be in his best judgment revised & amended, or rejected altogether—for (as my father used to say ‘the lawyer who takes the responsibility of conducting his own controversies has a fool for a client.’”

“Pech has put in no reply to the new matter in my answer to his disgraceful complaint, & the time for him to reply has run out.”

“Pecus, the Mus. Doc., is going on with his suit against us of the C. M. A. & has served process on Rev. Cooke. I hoped my answer would have discouraged his attorney, but we shall have plenty of trouble & expense before we are rid of this scallywag.”

“Ashamed to confess that that swindling suit of Pech’s, alias Peck’s, is a business on my mind. I’m poor moreover & Ellie is not well. So I’m mentally & morally forlorn.”

“Saw my co-defendant, General. Charles C. Dodge about this vexatious suit of Pech’s, which I want to push to trial & get rid of. Dodge has never been served, but he will appear gratis, & we can then move in the matter.”

“That pestilent suit of Pech’s has been referred. So far good—but I am hideously blue.”

“Reference 1 p.m. before J. M. Scribner Jr. in the case of that scallywag Pech. A scrubby little Jew boy came in & reported that Pech’s counsel was engaged at White Plains, defending certain of the famous ‘masked burglars,’ so we adjourned to the 26^th inst.”

“Note from Charles Edward Strong [Strong’s cousin and law partner] who demurs to paying his 1/3 or any other fraction of the expenses of the Pech suit. Rather shabby of him, I think. Wrote Drake to charge the same to me.”

“Referee’s office 1 p.m. for Pech’s case. The hour came but not the man, but at half past there appeared unto us a scrub of a little Jew office boy, who said that plaintiff’s counsel were ‘drying a gace in the sessions’ and couldn’t come. So we dispersed. No witnesses were in attendance. I guess that Messieurs Brooke & Co. have told Pech that they won’t go on till he has paid them $x&y, & that they are staving off the case in hope that he’ll be able to raise the money.”

“At referee office with Drake, Rev. Cooke, etc. but Pech’s counsel were ‘engaged’ once more, so we took another adjournment. It’s strange that the dirty dog of a plaintiff don’t [sic] show at all & don’t seem to be expected.”

“That pestilent Pech business comes on again tomorrow. What an incubus it is!”

“At referee’s office, Pech made default again, but Mr. Brooke (his counsel) will positively be ready next Tuesday. Pech’s Harlem Music Hall has collapsed, and the local press calls him a swindler. Meantime, Miss Susanna Evans, alias Mme. Pech no. 2, is ‘lecturing on temperance;’ poor little woman.”

“…duly attended at referee’s office (in the matter of Pech) at 3 p.m. Pech was ‘sick,’ & his counsel engaged! & the referee reluctantly adjourned the case to next Saturday—then to go on or to go off. He would have dismissed it, had we insisted on our rights, but Drake & I thought it best to treat the other side liberally & fairly. The little scrub of a clerk who has appeared for plaintiff has behaved very well about it. I hardly know whether they mean to try the case or not.”

“After many delays, Pech appeared at the referee’s office this afternoon, an hour behind time, ready for battle at last. Mr. Brooke did not show, & the plaintiff was represented by a little ignoramus of a German Jew clerk. Of course plaintiff was his own witness, & so bungling incoherent irresponsive a witness I never listened to. Drake gave him full swing & allowed him placidly to swear away nearly his whole case. His inaccuracy in immaterial statements, which he could have no motive for misstating, was marvelous. As to material points he was utterly loose and vague. But his direct examination was not closed, and he may be better doctored a week hence.”

“At Scribner, the referee’s again, with Drake & Rev. Cooke ‘bolt upright & ready to fight,’ but Pech (‘mutum et turpe Pechs’) wanted another postponement, to the referee’s outspoken disgust.”

“3 p.m. at office of Scribner, referee. Pech did not show his ugly face. After long delay, a clerk appeared from the office of his attorneys, asking an eleventh adjournment—‘counsel being engaged.’ Referee, on motion, struck out Pech’s direct examination because he did not appear for the cross-examination & then dismissed the complaint, but with the understanding that Pech have till Saturday to move to open his default. I may be sanguine, but I think we shall hear no more of Pecus. His lawyers, being probably without the stimulus of a retainer, have never much troubled themselves about his case. They won’t get up affidavits to open the default unless they are paid for it. The default will not be opened except on terms—including payment of costs, and Pech can no more pay them than he can pay the national debt.”

“Judgment entered against Pecusculum with costs, which are not worth the trouble of filling up a blank form; poor Pech!”