Accordingly I made myself acquainted with the managers and clerks of the neighboring hotels, giving them the impression, so far as I could, that Haight & Foster had opened an uptown office and that I was in charge of it.

I made friends also with the proprietors and barkeepers of the adjacent saloons, of which there were not a few, and left plenty of my cards with them for distribution to such of their customers as might need legal assistance, in each case promising that any business which they secured would be liberally rewarded.
In short, I made myself generally known in the locality and planted the seed of cupidity in the hearts of several hundreds of impecunious persons.

It was very necessary for me to net ten dollars per week to live, and under the circumstances it seemed reasonable to believe that I could do so.
Almost at the outset I had a piece of luck, for a guest at a Fifth Avenue hotel was suddenly stricken with a severe illness and desired to make a will.

It was but a few days after I had called upon the manager, and, having me fresh in his mind, he sent for me.

The sick man proved to be a wealthy Californian who was too far gone to care who drew his will so long as it was drawn at all, and I jotted down his bequests and desires by his bedside.