But the firm did not rest satisfied with this vindication. A clerk in the office had proved untrustworthy, and of him it was determined to make an example.
The District Attorney’s office was not a little proud of the short work it made of Horton’s case, and Messrs. Constable, Glenning & Hertzog, each in his own way, complimented the officials on having promptly closed what threatened to be quite a scandal, involving the fair name of the firm.
But Horton’s case would not stay closed, and it was that which was “effervescing.”
Horton’s counsel, Barton Mackenzie, was one of those irrepressible persons who answer defeat with defiance, and gather courage with every fresh discouragement. But Mackenzie built up a record of disaster in Horton’s case which surpassed anything he had ever experienced before. He was defeated before the Police Magistrate and Horton was held for the Grand Jury, which promptly indicted him on half a dozen different charges. At the trial the presiding Justice ruled steadily against him, and the verdict of the jury adjudged his client guilty. Another judge refused a “certificate of reasonable doubt,” and Horton went to Sing Sing with his case still on appeal. Eight weeks slipped by and then the Appellate Division affirmed the conviction. Three months later Mackenzie argued his client’s cause before the Court of Appeals in Albany, but Horton had served nearly six months of his sentence before that tribunal decided he had been legally convicted. This brought Mackenzie to a stand-still for a while, though Hertzog thought he recognised his hand in the subsequent badgering of Mr. Constable and the Hydroid Fibre Co.
One of those insignificant five-share stockholders, the pest of every corporation, began to worry the company with ceaseless questions, demanding every possible privilege accorded by the statutes. Who he was, or how he got his shares, was a detail of which Mr. Constable regretfully admitted “he knew nothing,” and Glenning, exploring every underground passage known to politics, could not run the thing to earth.
This irrepressible shareholder examined the list of stockholders, obtained statements of the treasurer, called for papers and particulars, and made a general nuisance of himself. His specialty, however, was interviewing President Constable. Hardly a week passed without his calling on this official.
“Here’s that five-share man again,” Mr. Constable would say, slipping into Mr. Hertzog’s private room. “Shall I see him?”
“Of course—see him.”
“You will—er—drop in?”
“No—confound it! You’ve seen him with me often enough. What have you got to worry about?”