By Advice of Counsel: Arthur Train Guide

When Arthur Train introduced the world to Mr. Ephraim Tutt in the pages of The Saturday Evening Post, he did more than create an immensely popular literary franchise; he invented a distinctively American legal archetype. In the golden age of post-World War I American magazine fiction, while criminal trials were sensationalized by the tabloid press and legal institutions were increasingly perceived as the protective ramparts of corporate trusts, Train presented a lanky, stogie-smoking, stovepipe-hatted lawyer who turned the law’s own labyrinths against predatory power. Published as a standalone collection in 1921, By Advice of Counsel represents one of the finest showcases of Train’s legal mastery, philosophical wit, and profound compassion for the human wreckage washed up in the criminal courts of Lower Manhattan.

A former assistant district attorney of New York County who prosecuted hundreds of cases alongside William Travers Jerome, Arthur Train brought unimpeachable technical authenticity to his fiction. Yet what makes By Advice of Counsel enduringly compelling is its central moral paradox: that formal statutory law, when applied mechanically, is frequently an instrument of cruel injustice. Through seven intricately plotted courtroom dramas, Ephraim Tutt serves as a Robin Hood of the bar, demonstrating that true justice often requires an advocate of consummate cunning to outmaneuver the literal words of the statute book in order to vindicate its humane spirit.

The Legal Architecture of Tutt & Tutt

At the heart of the collection is the venerable firm of Tutt & Tutt, Attorneys and Counsellors at Law, situated in an untidy, book-lined suite on Broadway overlooking St. Paul’s churchyard. The narrative power of the stories relies on the sharp comedic and ethical contrast between the two unrelated namesakes who head the firm:

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
|               THE DUAL MECHANISM OF TUTT & TUTT           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
|  EPHRAIM TUTT (The Idealist Crusader)                     |
|  - Tall, gaunt, stovepipe hat, Prince Albert coat         |
|  - Smokes 'stogies,' drinks malt extract, quotes Horace   |
|  - Represents the conscience of equity; defends underdogs |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
                             |
                             v  (Complementary Partnership)
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
|  SAMUEL TUTT (The Pragmatic Operator)                     |
|  - Short, plump, dapper, obsessed with retainers and cash |
|  - Handles corporate filings, bills, and office mechanics |
|  - Believes the law exists primarily to generate fees     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
                             |
                             v
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
|  THE COURTHOUSE CRUCIBLE (New York City Criminal Courts)  |
|  - The Tombs, the Court of General Sessions, Tammany Hall |
|  - Ruthless district attorneys & ambitious judges         |
|  - The deployment of ancient legal loopholes for justice  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+

The Characters of the Firm

Ephraim Tutt is one of the most vividly realized figures in twentieth-century legal fiction. Possessing the angular physical grace of Abraham Lincoln and the dry rural skepticism of Mark Twain, Mr. Tutt views the legal profession not as a commercial trade, but as a sacred chivalric calling. He is thoroughly familiar with every musty English common-law precedent dating back to the reign of Henry II, yet his primary weapon is his keen understanding of human psychology, juror prejudices, and the corrupt currents of urban political machines.

Balancing him is little Samuel Tutt—rotund, anxious, and perpetually alarmed by his senior partner’s habit of defending destitute immigrants, penniless orphans, and wrongfully accused clerks for free. Supporting them is an unforgettable office ensemble:

• Minerva Wiggin: The capable, sharp-eyed chief clerk who manages the firm’s chaotic affairs with iron efficiency.
• Scraggs: The melancholic, alcoholic copyist who transcribes briefs with calligraphic perfection.
• Willie Toothaker: The irreverent office boy whose street-smart intelligence frequently uncovers critical evidence in Manhattan alleyways.

Detailed Story Analysis: Morality vs. Technicality

By Advice of Counsel gathers several of Train’s most brilliant case studies, each examining how procedural technicalities and institutional biases can be subverted to protect the innocent:

1. “The Shyster” and the Tombs Culture

In stories such as “The Shyster,” Train exposes the predatory ecosystem surrounding the Tombs—Manhattan’s infamous city prison. Unscrupulous runners and corrupt attorneys predate on bewildered immigrants and terrified first-time offenders, extracting their last dollars under false promises of bail. When a vulnerable young man is framed for larceny by an employer seeking an insurance write-off, Ephraim Tutt steps into the fray.

Train demonstrates the sharp contrast between formal statutory guilt and moral innocence. Rather than mounting a conventional factual defense against perjured testimony, Mr. Tutt utilizes an obscure evidentiary rule regarding chain of custody and the doctrine of reasonable doubt to trap the prosecution’s star witness in open court, converting the district attorney’s triumphant case into a public rout.

2. “You’re Another!” and the Art of Cross-Examination

In “You’re Another!”, Train provides a masterclass in trial advocacy and courtroom theater. The drama hinges on a bitter civil feud between two prominent Wall Street financiers, where legal action is employed not to redress a genuine wrong, but as an instrument of social humiliation.

Tutt recognizes that the plaintiff’s case rests on the outward appearance of supreme respectability. In a cross-examination that remains a model study for trial lawyers, Mr. Tutt gently, courteously leads the arrogant plaintiff into a maze of self-righteous assertions, before confronting him with an unremembered business letter from twenty years prior. By turning the plaintiff’s own self-serving logic against him, Tutt forces a courtroom capitulation that preserves his client’s livelihood.

3. “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt”: The Human Tragedy

In the collection’s darker, more emotional tales, Train confronts the terrifying finality of the criminal justice system. A penniless Italian immigrant woman is accused of receiving stolen goods—jewelry secretly pawned by her delinquent son. The evidence under statutory penal codes points conclusively to guilt, and an ambitious assistant district attorney is eager to secure a quick conviction to bolster his reelection campaign.

Ephraim Tutt recognizes that the mother’s silence during police interrogation was not an admission of complicity, but a mother’s desperate, sacrificial attempt to shield her child from the electric chair. Tutt stages a daring evidentiary gamble, introducing character evidence that forces the jury to confront the moral chasm between legislative definitions and maternal sacrifice, winning a dramatic acquittal that leaves the courtroom in tears.

Thematic Depth: Train’s Philosophy of Jurisprudence

The Jurisprudence of the Underdog

Arthur Train’s fiction anticipated the legal realism movement pioneered by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and Roscoe Pound. Legal realism challenged the formalist assumption that law is a self-contained, logical system of neutral rules. Train argued that laws are written by human beings, administered by fallible officials, and frequently weaponized by the wealthy against the poor.

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
|          ARTHUR TRAIN'S REALIST JURISPRUDENCE             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
|  FORMALIST LAW: Rigid statutes applied without mercy      |
|         |                                                 |
|         v                                                 |
|  THE HAZARD: Mechanical injustice crushing the poor       |
|         |                                                 |
|         v                                                 |
|  TUTTIAN EQUITY: Substantive fairness achieved through    |
|                  procedural ingenuity and moral courage   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+

To Train, Ephraim Tutt is the necessary counterweight to this systemic imbalance. When corporate employers use perjury and political influence to destroy honest employees, Tutt does not hesitate to use technical defenses, procedural delays, and evidentiary ambushes to level the playing field. In Tutt’s moral calculus, exploiting a legal loophole to save an innocent human being is not trickery; it is the highest fulfillment of a lawyer’s oath.

The Urban Tapestry of Gilded Age and 1920s New York

Beyond its legal brilliance, By Advice of Counsel provides a magnificent sociological portrait of New York City during a period of dizzying transition. Train depicts:

• The smoke-filled rooms of Tammany Hall ward bosses and precinct captains.
• The bustling ethnic neighborhoods of the Lower East Side and Little Italy.
• The opulent mahogany dining clubs of Wall Street bankers and railroad barons.
• The dreary, echoing corridors of the Criminal Courts Building on Centre Street.

Through it all, Ephraim Tutt moves with equal ease among high and low, sharing a plug of tobacco with a carriage driver or quoting the Odes of Horace over claret with an appellate judge.

Historical & Literary Significance

The cultural impact of Arthur Train’s creation was so profound that during the 1920s and 1930s, thousands of real Americans wrote letters addressed to “Mr. Ephraim Tutt, Attorney at Law, Broadway, New York,” asking him to represent them in genuine legal disputes. In 1943, when Train published a mock-autobiography titled Yankee Lawyer: The Autobiography of Ephraim Tutt, it spent months on The New York Times bestseller list as non-fiction, prompting real-world legal threats from confused readers who believed Tutt was a living human being.

By Advice of Counsel stands as the peak of Train’s early Tutt period. It established the standard against which subsequent American legal fiction—from Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason to Scott Turow and John Grisham—would be measured.

Why Read the DodaBooks Edition of By Advice of Counsel?

While vintage print editions are long out of print and public scans are marred by defective typography, the DodaBooks Annotated Edition delivers the definitive reading experience:

• Historical & Legal Annotations: Comprehensive explanatory notes explaining archaic penal code provisions, New York court hierarchies, common-law pleading rules, and Latin legal maxims.
• Biographical & Historical Context: An extensive introductory essay exploring Arthur Train’s real-life career as a crusading Manhattan prosecutor and the origins of the Ephraim Tutt legend.
• Pristine Digital Typesetting: Meticulously proofread and formatted for modern e-readers with clean drop caps, active chapter navigation, and full cross-device compatibility.
• 100% DRM-Free Freedom: Download once and read across all your devices without digital restrictions.

Interlinked Literary Explorations

To discover more classic legal dramas, financial intrigue, and urban American fiction, explore these related guides:

• Gilded Age Wall Street Panics & Market Rigging: Witness the savage world of high-finance manipulation and stock manipulation in Thomas W. Lawson’s Friday, the Thirteenth Guide.
• Progressive Era Chicago Law & Modern Marriage: Explore high-society patent law and a woman’s battle for economic independence in Henry Kitchell Webster’s The Real Adventure Guide.
• Small-Town Detective Farce & Rural Justice: Contrast Ephraim Tutt’s urban genius with the bumbling village justice of Marshal Anderson Crow in George Barr McCutcheon’s The Daughter of Anderson Crow Guide.

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