The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-05-10

stairs. One of these was tenanted by q LAWYER
Epctetus Q. Gray by name, who failed 20 pay
his rent. Beach advertised the claim for sale,
and Gray not only sued him for libel, but
recovered $500 This injustice seems hardly
credible, and yet such was the law of libel
only a few years ago. The heaviest damages
ever found on a libel suit were those OBJ
tained by Edmund Fry in an action against
James Gordon Bennett but the latter, by
legal trickery avoided the payment Edmund
Fry was brother of William II Fry one of the
editors OF the Tribune at that time. Both of
these men possessed fine musical taste, and the
latter had this department under his criticism in
the aforementioned journal. Edmund Fry
opened an Italian opera, and labOred arduOusly
10 sustain 1t. He incurred the displeasure of
the Herdd Tor two reasons One was that his
brother was employed on the Tribune, the other
was his refusal to pay black-mail. The result
was that Bennett commenced a series of yene-
nous attacks upon the man, and also upon his
exhibitions SO determined was this malignity,
that 1t reached from the manager to his per-
formers. Every one Of Mr.. Fry's troupe was
assaied in the most abusive manner, and the
only way in which they could escape was to
abandon their employer. The result of this in
famous persecution was to utterly paraly2e the
manager, and finally to ruin him. These things
were clearly proven, and the result was verdict of
$4,000 damages in favor of the plaintiff. Ben
nett, with his usual tactics, appealed the suit
and so prolonged the litigation that IL exhausted
both the plaintiffs time and money, aud at last
in new trial he failed to make out n case
The first time he narrowly escaped sentence to
Blackwells Island, by, no doubt, the free use of
money; the second time the indictment was by
means OF peculiar management quashed and
of course the culprit escaped. Bennett no
doubt, owes this success to his attorney, the
astute Benjamin Galbraith, who is one of the most
cunning practitioners in the city. He has paid
Galbraith large sums, and has found him sue
ucssful champion in the hour of need
The most famous libel suit on record is that
which excited the English courts nearly seventy
years ago 1t occurred Immediately after the
| peace of Amiens, that brief truce which was sue
| ceeded by fourteen years of bloodiest war. Ma
poleon, at that time First Consul, was very sem
| sitive to public opinion, and being attacked in
| cessantly by one of the London journals, he,
| through his representative, Baron Otto made
earnest complaint. The chief offender was
| French emigrant named Peltier, who published
a sheet called LAn1bigW, which was devoted to
assaults on the First Consul 1t was graced
| with cut representing a sphynx, with Napo-
| Icons features, thus indicating the mystery of
! his policy, as well rs his Egyptian campaign. On
| Otto's complaint, Pelter arrested and tried
! He employed Sir James Macintosh to defend him
and the latter added to his already brilliant fame
by his eloquent arguments in defense of free
| speech. The defendant, however, was convicted,
| but escaped sentence by the rupture which so
! quickly threw the two nations into hostilities
| Next to this in national importance was the
| case of The People VS.. Croswell. who was in
dicted for libel on President Jefferson, and tried
in 1903. In this case a libel was defined to be
"a censorious ridiculous writing, picture, or
sign, made with mschievOus or malicious in
tent toward government, magistrates. or indi-
| vduals." By the Roman law, libel was at one
time capital offense, while in the days of Alfred
SANDER of any kind was punished by the loss of
the tongue
In the Croswell case, alluded to above, the
| question arose whether the truth could be given
in defense, and Alexander Hamilton argued
strongly in the affirmative, and this has now be-
come the general law of the land.