Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1872-11-26


petit larceny; the actaaI trsAsAstRn was fell
oby. So that II we feff into the MISTAKE, your
Honor, it Vas a mistake In favor ffrfrre, and
not against him. The story substantially vas
rue. The only matter wherein the correspond
stated that MIR. Prince foro~eS, tbeils5v. ami
called her attention to it in the street, Th AZ
rendering OF u bad erept into il in its pepal n
ere, On the s,tect fsr there il no Pretsnse
substantially az printed was tie ssory IN circu-
laton. and the story i'm circ sahStsn Hal
~ had foundation in the conduct OF Prince;
ana n ne shall have 100000, or N cents out OF US
for that, IL shall be because he conducted him
sell In such manner that the story got a circu-
laton; and the story did him no inj astice Tor it
hume by his officers He did threaten 20 arrest
her; her husband did understand at there was
avarrsnt for her arrest. Hume did call in the
ether MT. Prince for the purpose Of dealing
with him after the manner of men, and th Al
matter between these parties was ended with a
drink. The story was substantially true. II
Prince. ' " 0NUu0' Vi
Your Honor, IT has been argued to this Jury.
that this paper was libellous. This paper nov
which your Honor has given 10 this jury In the
charge which you have already gwen, is libel
lous mainly, as 1t il urged, because IL PROMPTED
this Prince himself 10 seek some sort OF redress.
nay IL set these two Princes in pursuit OF the
STAR. IL ssitated them; II produce Z xcite ment
ana under the inspiration OF that excitement
they went in pursuit of the Star.
W nat snail be SAID then, gentlemen the
jury, OF the conduct of this plaintiff Prince;
what shall be said then of the conduct. or mis-
conduct OF this man himself, which Was such an
outrage in the opinion, or estimation OF Me-
Hume that he proposed 30 nsgellate him: sup
posing he had met this plaintiff; and there cpuid
have been no explanation made, and il ho n al
nogged him, would the Star have had TO pay
Why, gentlemen, It was the bare mistake
which Hume made in the personally OF these
parties. II he had met Prince, the plaintiff
hare 10 - -.
gesnce upon him, and this. according 70 Gszeral
Carr ngton, would prove gross mis- conduct on
the part of Prince, for il agitated and excited
Hume! L am only offsetting the argument of
the plaintiff, and am saying that If there has
been wrong done TO this man; ii he has suffered
IN consequence of this story, he has suffered be-
cause II was the natural and necessary fruit of
his own act, and it was all his act before IL
reached The Star at all. II reached The Star
innocently. Why talk about malice? What
earthly malice had Mr.. Young? None at all
What conceivable malice could AIR. Collins
have had? or any of these three proprietors of
that Star newspaper-Mr. Kaufman, Mr..
Noyes, and Mr.. Shepherd-hsve hsdf Why,
gentlemen, they did not know even that the
article was published. know, and Ii Is sound
law. and it has the best foundation in reason,
also, that where man leaves his business In the
hands OF agents and employs these parties to
collect information and to give it the shape of
articles and to print 81 know that they are re-
sponsible; but know, as you know, gentlemen,
that TO urge, to argue that they should paw as ii
they themselves had written il, and knew that 4
was false as If they had fabricated il, is an out
rage upon every mans conceivable sense OF right.
Why we have no more different ideas of right
here In court than you have outside.
That which is fair and m anly am Jngst men,
Is fair and manly, and is law in court
You are jurors because you are citizens. You
come here with your citiZe lis garb; your citizens
thoughts ana feelings; and passions: and
whatever they Are they go TO make the sum
total OF the citizen; and you deal with the cases
here, as you deal with them everywhere else.
The thing that is right is right. That which l.
right here must be right everywhere, and to say
here that these parties defendant, who had not
n slightest knowledge of the existence OF this
article at all, until it was complained of, could
be guilty Of deliberate and wilful malice il
absurd. Gentleman, will not pursue that any
further, and yet it was grayely argued TO you
that the proprietors of the Star newsp.per
acted solely and exclusively through malice.
And for some purpose, which the Lord, or
knows, they singled out this Prince, who was
customer of theirs, against whom they could
have 10 feeling of any kind, and with whom
their interests were one, for as his business
progressed he could advertise and pay-they
would have you believe that these parties pro-
foundly ignorant that this article was inserted
were guilty OF express malice against this
plaintiff. Their agents found the story upon
the street circulating. Nobody contrsdicted At
Prince had not hunted up any utterer of that
story, and prosecuted him with a suit for SLAM
terms the least offensive to Prince, and was
publifhed. And, gentlemen, the court says
that it will leave it for you to determine
whether that article is hbellous or not.
court, and FAY briefly that al article, to be
libellous, must charge man with having done
something In violation of his duty As q citizen
In violation OF good morals as a man, or good
manners as gentleman, or in violation Of some
iaw as q subject. IL accuses and charges him
with neither, but 1t simply recites Q story. the
popular version Of hich varied but slightly from
the actual transaction. 1t calls him no name. liz
does not intimate that he was entitled to any
punishment 1t does not complain that he was
not punished. 1t applies to him no epithet. 1t
any form, but is simply dry, condensed, cold,
colorless statement Of the facts most favorable
to him and more favorable than the actual facts
warranted. Because, gentlemen, if tina. article
had said that this man had a counterfeit bill,
passed to him iLnocently, Is it is admitted this
was; and that for the purpose of securing its re-
payment, he went to lady and told her if she
did not pay 1t he would arrest her fer passing
MOI ey, or had gone to her husband
and related the same. L have no doubt, YOUR
Honor, but that that statement would be libel
ous and IL We on the trial should fail TO prove il
true, they would be entitled to q verdict against
us. If we had stated in that article that he had
received bank bill and for the pur-
pose Of recovering It from some one sought to
coeTce the repayment with threats of a prosecu-
ton, or arrest, for q felony, that would be a
grave charge to make against any man; but if
we had made that in that article, We would
have told Gods truth, and We could have
proved IT, as We have on this stand. SO L
say, gentlemen, that this story that has been
printed in the Star contains less rehection-In
fact 1t contains none, when il might have con-
tanned gross charge against this Prince, and
which would have been true. And yet am to
stand here, am 1, all this long afternoon, to con-
tend that the verdict shall not 20 against these
for publishing this tame, colorless,
aud truthful statement; when IL might have
been made singing and pungent, and that with
truth, too?
Let me pass along. Timeis going, and little
faster than an.
Well, the article was published. All the rest of
this case lies In q comparatively small compass
The two Princes are having considerable cause
of complaint, because he was put under rather
OF cloud by that article to say the least of IT,
because it represented, so far as he was con-
cerned, that he got some ticks, scientific or
other, upon his person, and that when the eN-
PLANTATION came he forgave his opponent, Mr.
Hume, and they contaminated that mutual par
don and forgiveness by libation, not to tue
gods, exactly, as the ancient custom was, but
In drinks by mortals, as L believe the modern
customis.
The Princes had an interview that night.
They went down to the Star premises the next
morning. Now, there are three witnesses 10
what occurred that next morning at the Star
&c. Mr.. Noyes and Mr.. Prince, the
broker, agreeing with each other, and both con-
tradict Mr.. Prince, the plaintiff. But your
Honor, il has become the fashion to contradict
him hn1 DIV has ia AL mi