The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-02-28

bad sold % him; Thompson said he had not and
Tss.p.es g. Ss ss1: : :.:'
WE % told Mr.: Sheldon, whom he nrst met him ct
= .: :s =:
II there were any In it he (wtness) would do It
In days at the expense Of the. gentlemen intersst
build SEQ Thompson, Is he did; he never afterwards
Communicated with witness about that proposition;
he thought nom Walters clerk ct the Astor House;
Rsthbone had his oice in the room opposite Pierson
Colt the isSa o. his o..
bought his stock two or three months before
called on Sheldon which was In April, 1846; witness
street
Cross-examined by Mr.. Jordan. have stock yet;
for Che thoueh shares; he did not turn out any
land he paid Walters In msney they had ct hrst ten
shares between them-now he witnsss) had all those
Mr. Jordan Has anybody ever returned you any
Ans-Thers was something about some land; he
had not been repaid BY any to his knowledge he
had other dealings with Rsthbone about some land;
there might have been sonsthns in the Wilson lands
he had some land from Rathbons.
the case mere closed on potn SIDES ana after some
counsel on each side should be heard In summing,
on the understanding that neither should occupy
more than four hours. The court then took recess
Tor an hour
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Mr. 9ickles summed up the the part of the
defence and occupied about two hours of the time al
iotted to each side He was followed by Gen Mathsr
Tor the prosecution After which, the court adjourned
till the following morning. (Thursdsyl
SIXTH
FEB. 27--on the assembling of the court this
morning the jury expressed a desire that counsel
should not be limited had bee proposed, in point
Of time they would like to hear them fully upon the
care The court would cheerful aceede to this wish,
coming as it did from the jury and withdraw the re-
striction.
MT Smith availed himself Of this license, and pro-
ceedea to sum up. occupying the whole OF the frs:
sitting At the conclusion OF his speech at o'clock
the court took recess for half an hour.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
On the reassembling Of the court, Mr.. Jordan pro.
ceeded to up and concluded his address ION behalf
of the prosec ution), about elk o'clock.
JUDGES CHARGE.
Judge Greenwood then charged the jury. After the
time which this trial had occupied he said he would
dictment for libel The reason cause for making
lbels the subjects of criminal is that the
peace on the part Of those who are the subject Of
them With regard to the present case, he must first
direct them to discard from their minds all exraneous
considerations In these he included all those parts OF
the beous article beyond the words Of the libeit,e
and all those articles which had been read TO show the
quo amino, and all those parts which refer to any other
persons but tho;e aimed at by the libel Howe bitter
the feeling unjust the aspersons against Mr.. Jor
dan or Mr.. u ckeon. any other thaa the persons
aimed at it had nothing with the trial of this
cause. You to pass upon the guilt or innocence
OF the defendant and TINS Involves several subord
nate considerations. First the publication; ondly
the character Of the article whether libelous not
thirdly whether the libel malicious; fourthy the
referring the article or rather the meaning OF 1t to
Meesrs. Sheldon and FreelsEd; filthy, whether the
libel is all there are involved in the Ques
tion OF ut or Innocence the trst place, you are
in this the OF the law and the fsct that i
you have right to determine the law and the fact In
the language of the constitution Every citizen may
freely speak wits and publish his sentiments all
subjects being responsible for the abuse Of that right
ana no law shall be passed to restrain abrdge the
lbs rty Of ipeecb or OF the all criminal p1ose
cUtons indictments for lbsls, the truth may be
given in evidence to the jury and If shall appear to
be he a Irue
ana vas published With good motives and for justfs-
bic ends the party shall be acquitted and the jury
shsl have the right to determine the law and the
fact prosecution for libel is the ony in
which have this right In every other case civil
the direction OF the court But IL has been properly
observed by the counsel Who last summed up that
judge as wise and discreet men, and determine the
Law TO be you would wish IL TO BE- the settled Law
the land 1t would be atten great venence
II you to determine the Law 10 be thing aud
another jury another, and third adopt course be-
tween the two-we should then have no standard at
all. We need not go into the origin OF the rule OF
this Law oflbel 1t Is the wish of this Court
infringe in the least degree upon the province of the
jury aud certsicly not in this You will there
tore receive what s raid by the Court with such de-
gree Of respect as you think IL Is entitled to and
more First with regard to the publication of tails
article In order TO convict the IL is
sary you should hnd that the article published In
the city of brooklyn 1t is necessary that It should
laid and this Court has jurisdiction only in the city OF
Brooklyn; the circulation therefore must be shown
WITHIN the city. constitutes publication,
not necessary that any particular number should
be circulated the authorized circulation of single
copy would be sufficient. For instance, IL any one
wrote letter rejecting the character of other
per,on. and sent 1t through the post Office to the city
OF Brooklyn, that would be publication. With re-
gard to newspapers there IL this principle to be OBJ
seryed-they stand on somewhat differt mt footing;
IL 10 designed for general circulation aud unless the
pubifher expressly limits the circulation he Is re-
tponsible for the circulation wherever II GOES The
Judge then went through the evidence on this point
The next was whether IL was lbelous the jury must
be the judges of that IL was also necessary to
quire shether IL was malicious, aud ~h.thsr IL
true Tor no one was permitted to publish even 4
the truth In order to crafty private malice. I
The last and most important consideration was whe-
ther IL was iustitsble This not privileged COM
muniostion of which there were many INSTANCES but
IL needless to enumerate them. 1t most de-
to esard the freedom Of the press but private
an individual rights must also be protected; and
the press was most powerful engine, 80 much the /
greser was the Injury inflicted by IT, II improperly
welded
The Judge concluded his charge, (Which want Of
space oomp.ls US to abbrevige In order that may
give the result Of the trial In this days issue about
seven o'clock, and the jury retired In charge Of
Officer.
They shortly afterwards came into court and re. I
que tttd direction whether IL essential th at one
persons read the article who knew the tine
that IL referred 10 Sheldon md Freeland.n
The Judge said 10 undoubtedly necessary that, +
to prove public alton, they mrst DO satisaed II cams
10 some person vho 90 understood It. Any one person
would be enough they must gather this from the evil
deDce.
About quarter past nine O'Clock they returned into
court; and the foreman Mr. W. NJ. Harris a.livereda
verdict Of guilty and stated that two Of the Jury.
men had come to that conclusion the ground that
there VI. not sufficient proof Of publication.
Supreme Court-CIreuit.
Before Hen. Judge Mitchell.
Fra TIN the case OF Henry Esler and another W.