Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1872-11-26
THE PRINGE-CARRINGT IIRFI.
StIK AGAINST HE STAR.
How Partnership of LAWYER and
Eltent fer Speculative Isan,ares
Went for Wool and Game
Back Shoru
Tiaey hriAe for s2o, zoe and Get Nix.
Ihe Speculative Par.ner~ht., Called
pom Q" Divide Costs In.
Stead of Sp0iIs.


stead of SpOiIs-
The suit of William Prince against the Even
, trg star Newspaper Company for libel, (nev
| mall damages 81, coo, was entered upon Tues
day, November 10, in the Circuit Court of THU
District. Justice Cartier presiding. Messrs f. @
and y. Z. Darlington appeared for the plaintiff
N-ssrz. Riddle, Nii,eT and Z. L. Stanton for tn,
/ defence.
| ARGUMENT or HON. A. c. RIDDLE.
Gentlemen OF he jury: 7 ALWAYS listen tn my
! fIicrd CsrrIngtOn with Interest and sO3aetlne,
! with admiration. But, on the whole gentle
men, thus thing OF the sublime, this soaring ats
upper AR. into the emf wear, has been a little
! overcome on this occasion. \ stranger to this
/ issue. coming into Thu court room. and no,
/ Known What the evidence was, would never
| have learned II the world; never would have
/ stTnlseo What we are really dealing with; tina,
| a. Fas oniy ltttie playful article in the Star
! Newspaper, AMI that nobody was affected but a
! very common man. lie would have supposed
that several high born virgins, or angels, or
| some ihTg that realize and embOdy the
! highest Foeficsl conception of whatever
/ J. beantIiul, tender, lovely, and celestial,
| bad only and severally undergone the most
! agonizlHg. tersisc, and hOrTinc fortunes of
| heart, sOgl and viscera, that could have been
| G. nceiyed OF. or skeiChed. Why, he has lair,
ihTce 81 four fair regions all waste here. There
/ have been score of households desoIated. We
have been al the wee ping death bed side OF hal
| doc heart-trOken women; Sc YER al venerable
gentlemen have been taken up bodily into
have DO doubt it is a good thing TO do yerv-
where exec pt in this court | don't remember
the quantity of children put to death. Indeed
he bias transported ms bodily, courts counsels
jUIies crow and all, half score of times to the
realm Of rest. Angels have been invoked and
put into the case, and the awful Presence that
we GO bot IKE to name has been several times
|, Personally appealed to; and the whole of il,
sfrer all, Is this little playful article in the
Star newspaper, recounting this little comedy
OF errors and terrors. Was there ever anythinS
like it2
We had not supposed, gentlemen, that there
vas anS way by which one could insert little
quill INTO little mess like this, and with little
or a good deal OF wind blow 1t up to such large
dimensions, for there Is nothing else. 1t used
to be said that the gods confined the winds in
cave. never supposed it was true until now.
regret that they permitted them all to escape.
Gentlemen, we must deal with this thing here
somewhere on this earth, and as we deal with
other transactions of an ordinary character.
We are told that mere is this great newspaper
huge, bloOd-thirsty corporation, with mon
strous corporate powers, and my friend would
have You believe that there was a special act of
incorporation, and, as he says, for the public
good, mainly, which have been perverted to
mischief. What original notions of law we are
getting! Why, your honor. here were three
IN private business, Who asked for n an set Of
incorporation, which was granted them; and
Congress finally passed q general act, so that
any three gentlemen, for any purpose what
ever, can associate themselves as a private cor
poration to carry on their private business in
vhich the public has no interest. But vet the
Seiendant IL one of these awful, thirsty,
hideons, bloody, overgrOwn, huge, hungry,
eating, devouring corporations tha takes down
o man like Prince, takes his wife and inpumer-
able children, takes all his future prospects in
this and the next world-no; I'm glad 70 re-
member that Brother Darlington has taken
care of the neXt-snd swallows them M or
down, without a shadow of conjunction. And
the OILY thing that reconciles him to the awful
catastrophe at all Is that he is going to share in
the dividends of the corporation! This alone
can reconcile him to the contemplation of it
On, how unhappy he will be when this verdict
He says the Star has grown up TO be a great
paper. Has IL? 1t has large circulation he
exclaims! l should like to inquire how all that
came to be? How comes it to have large cir
culation? Why do men look to the st ar and
patrobize 1t? Why, by industry aud intelli-
gence, by integrity. by care and prudence, and
careful regard for the feelings and the rights
of everybody. 1t Is by this course that these
gentlemen have succeeded in presenting us
with aDewspaper that for its many exceliences
commends itself to the public favor. Libelers,
NJ slcious and vindictive men, who 90 about
seeking objects and occasions to work malicious
mischief, do not grow into the significance, i'm
portanc6 and consequence of the Star Comma
ny. And when this charge of its great success is
made against brought against it asa reason why
you should visit it with vindictive damages, il
Is the highest eulogium that can be pronounced
upon 1t, and would vastly help il in an hour OF
real peril. We do not ask impunity nor i'm
muhity for newspaper. We only ask that
precisely the same law, and the same rules and
usages shall be extended to ths press now as has
been wont to be extended to 1t, and under the
fostering care, or rather q just federation of it,
the press has grown to its vast proportions Ct
usefulness, ength and power. 1t will be one
OF the most fatal blows at public morality at i'm.
teihgence, and at the dissemination OF all use
ful, enlRrging and enrolling ideas, when juries
under Prejudice IN the heat of misguided pas
Injuries, turn stupidity upon the press. Under
sQch ubiquitous visitation the press would lam
guish While the public would suffer blight, un-
der which its interests would wither and perish.
This the learned gentleman could be reconciled
to, for do not the wages awarded by iures flow
yirtu0usly to him. Why, gentlemen, the press
shares the infrmities that are incident
to all the works and acts of men. IL is
only ask for it exactly the same rights
that the law and fair dealing accord to
all. We only desire the came rulee of evidence,
the same construction and application Of law
and fact to our case, and no more. A news
paper, to be sure, must be permitted to speak
Tor itself, as an individual speaks. A man is
he says so, and Newspaper does the same.
This Star did that, nothing more. former
jury gave 5000 damages against IL, as the
GEM; 50 carefully reiterates, and the Star did
not like 1t. Doyou? The jury who gave that
verdict were stupid, and so the Star said, and
20 you will say, and yet for saying that, the de-
fepdant rs charged with express malice towards
the piSiptit, and this does seem to be the
strongest evidence of Its i'll win, given on this
trial, and about the only evidence that il has
hbelled any body. If this Is another libel the
counsel in this case have shown no such esger-
ness to evade libel case and fair division of
damages as would keep them from prosecuting
q new one.
The former trial of this case and what was
said, and es pecially its reeult and the amount
Of damages aw arded, has been reiterated to you.
Although his Honor has already told you that
with that you had nothing to DO, and although
the answer to this is On the record, that the
court who tried the case promptly set that YER
diet aside for excessive damages; aud yet in the
face of this record the counsel amended their
declaration, and Tow claim so 900. and insist
that they ought to have 1t. because before. on
different evidence and different ruling, they
recovered the amount named, AID dealt with
a. that was by the court, one feels called upon
to admire the law logic and fairness OF this ar
gument. The court that presided at that trial
thought We were not entitled to the testimony
OF MI. Hume and OF Mr.. Justice Plant and
Mr.. Bennett, and the other Mr.. Prince. The
chief justice who presides at this trial took
occasion TO say TO the gentlemen on yesterday
that he v as in the habit of permitting parties to
show something about their cases, as we haze
been permitted to do here. But YOU do not care
how this case was tried before. / ONLY saw 40
much of il because OF what has been repeated
and reiterated to you. and only to correct any
wrong impression about it. II is q matter for
you to treat now and here as an original trans