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In the office of clerks of the court in the United States are thousands of dollars in unclaimed witness fees, and this offers an opportunity for thousands of men all over the country to collect them for the parties on a large percentage basis——say, one-half the amounts collected.

A man living in a county seat in a western state made a small fortune in this manner, because he hit upon the right plan.

All public records are open to the inspection of any person, and his method was to make a thorough examination of these records and obtain a list of all witness fees paid in but not called for by the parties, who had probably forgotten all about them, or, after calling for them several times, found the records were not completed, so that their witness fees could not be paid. He noted the title of each case, the date of the trial, the name and address of the witnesses, the number of days of attendance and the amount of the fees due him.

Then he would call upon or write to the former witnesses, stating that a certain amount was due him, which he had failed or forgotten to call for, and that he would collect the same on a 50 per cent basis, as he was in a position to make the collection. He enclosed, or handed to the party if seen personally, an order on the court clerk as follows: “You are hereby authorized to pay to (collector’s name here) the sum of ——— dollars and ——— cents, the same being due me as witness for ——— days attendance in the case of ————— vs. —————” with blank for signature of the witness. His letter bore the names of several well known men in his town as references, and in most cases the paper came back duly signed, the money was collected, one-half sent to the former witness, and the balance belonged to the man who thought out the plan.