National Republican., 1873-03-08
The LATEST LIBEL SUIT
tc0nt.rued from First PuS,.,

referring, not partouiary Ma W thS SvSoeyer she
sss I'M rcieTring more particularly 70 the
wretch who had oieted around about ~ tnS n. bsvch
sSS0o SHSnS 3, ;Ds 81 ns 1Suas Sl ss Vow, had Inc
mater been permitted TO rest fignt LneIe, ,id ~
this city Of washington, not enc pie peiont t,mSs
sss vas SuSpended from the school, as were |
thfec OF four other glll at the same time, and,
Z C 1, oE Tu Soq uassa 5S% lS me OS SsSs
sid thht lgured throughout the whole OF the
fransaeiion, and was the principal witness in |
snt M was was Sifi BY the name Of oussie Grub.
Our defence ls very simple one. we VIII
show you thls article was written without any
Ehe lime q the pfeparaton T Of the article ne
was not in the mind Of the writer; that w%niie %
she was suspended from school there weIe a Indee
OF four other girls suspended for the same cause
and In the absence Of any proof 10 SNOW ,s Wat
this was written with the purpose Of IeneS.S sSpb
upon her, why, Of course the jury mu,t ~ Sani
the inc Of our defence as understand II.
William J. Murtagh sworn! ,,,s..,,
nv MI harrington q. Are you the editor ahi
propre,of q the REFrSLicAS newspaper A.
3. Did you write this article referred to' Al
'c o. Hi Did you know anything Of II prior 70 is
pu6licatonG A. l never saw II until sa" u IN
Then, OF course, you had no reference to
this young girl7 A. did not. "a,
3, Did you know Of her exls;eneeT A. dld
" 3. Had you heard anything Of her in or about
SrosS.esamiuation @ by Mr.. Riddle: Q. Who did
write ihs arSels7 A. NJ harTls s a, tho ,rr,,ses
Of that school2 A. 1 do not know whether ne
was trustee or not At that time. AL.
DID NJ, Hart and MIA, Ms hSr5S SoNS SelTher @ % MI
Harris nor Mr.. Hart ever spoke to me on 'he
.: T6en neither of them came to yOu'
%. bo you know whether they were at
your once together with this artiele' A. l 10
10 o. DO you know thai prosecutions were going
on Immediately after that7 A. or course l
o. You knew the man was under arrest at that
timer A. OF course; l read the circumstances
OF the trial and Of the proceedings; paid very
little attention TO them, however, ,, ,,.,
Grace Hurdle, was mixed mp In IT. ~ dlu
q. Did not you hear that talked about' A.
Were you at the trial. A. No. sir. =.
q. Then you did rot know anything about J,
until you saw II in the RFrrnLLeaN' n statsl at,i
Gle, that did not see 1t, and did not know any
thing about IL until I saw II In print.
NJ. Harrington. You have been, a. | under.
stand, at one time connected With the NATIONAL
REFuBLIcAS, OF this clty7 A. was the manas
We're you at tho time Of the publication oI
this articleS A. No, sir.
q. You had been Just previous to that7 A
Q. Were you in the habit oi contributing ar
ticles TO the paper7 A. Very frequently.
Q. Were you what Is called a newspaper man
Tnentiy and exchange news, and II had new
give Tito Mr., shepherd and others.
q. Please look at this slip, tnandins Eltnss 1Ss
whether you wrote 1t or notT A. / did.
Q. To whom and about whom was that artiel,
writteni What was is purpose7 A. Its pur
o. Mf. Butts then, as / understand, being
charged with some lewd practices In relation u
Young giTls7 A. Yes, sir.
o. Your purpose was to show Butts up as I
YiliainG A. That was all.
Q, Had you any relation TO this young girl
M. Rldile. do not know about that
The Court to Mr.. Harrington. That Is the sam
question you objected TO, and sustained the oh
Mr.. harrington. II they object to It, you
Honor can sustain their objection. Perhaps tn
Court VIII have no objection to your answering
Mr.. Riddle. one moment. do object.
The Court lie may answer whether he knew
the plaintiff or not.
Nj. Riddle reserves exception.
A. knew her only as knew some thousand
OF others In the public schools, being q schoo
UftceT and seeing them in the school.
O. Had you the plalnun in your mind, and dl
oher?
Mt. Middle. object.
Mr. Harrington. / think we have a right to q
answer to that question. They have charged U
here with having written libel about this plalr
IN 20 which we plead not glhi{, and nov " y
Il was not written about this young girls that
was written about another, and different pei
The Court. How do you get along with tn
logic aud law that excludes the lnterpretato
Of the language OF the paper? Now II may ,,
or II may not: the Court don't assume TO decid
MhetheF II docs or does not apply TO the plaintiff
hat tho Court has decided that the language
this article Is not even enigmAtlca or myst,
rous, requiring Interpretation or eNpianAuoi
or capable OF II.
Mr. Harrington. That is not the purpose {
the oGsr II your Honor please. 4,
quo amino OF the indtter Of this article was. 70
have been permitted already to show, as L. mo-
apparent from ne iaee oI h 1he orSie Ins ~ w
You have been permitted TO show further thi
tho witness upon the stand had no acguantanC
with the plaintiff, except the acquaintance
common with all the school girls as an offlceT
tho school. Now, with tho view OF doing ava
with the effect Of the language of the articl
you propose TO prove what the inside experience
Of the ofticer were.
Mr.. Harrington. Your Honor does not cate
the ground upon which put II, say, In the lr'
place, It goes dreolly to the issue as to whethe
This article was written OF and concerning th
plaintiff. That Is the case we are trying Nov
what better proof In the world Is there 9tn' tn,
ten Of and concerning somebody else wlthoT
any relation at all to this young Rirl7
the Court. There IA not any better proof |
the world, but you must md II out In the rigl
Mr.. Harrington. II your Honor please, thin
itis admissible upon another ground. II Is a
ways admissible upon q question OF inVestg
tion OF damages TO show the purpose for Whlc
the article was written.
Now, It seems TO me 1t Is admissible to'mlt
cato damages; 10 show by tue witness the ci
cumstances under which II was written, aboi
whom It was written, and the anlmus OF u
TSs Court. You have shown 1t was write
MI. HSrru yton. Yes, but want to show It va
not written about the plAlntlu. VI course that
The Court. You are giving bat little credit I
the Court aud Jury az 10 their ability 10 unde
stand language In this request for proof. Yo
were few moments ago demanding that IN
language should Interpret itself
Mr.. Harrington. II Il not offered 10 interprt
the language by any means.
The Coufi. The language says who It IA wrl
ten about, docs II notf
Mr.. Harrington. Yea, sir.
the Court. guess VIC Will leave 1t where III
By Mr.. harrington: !: Q. Did Mr. Murtag
know anything about this article? A, No, sir.
Mr. Riddle. lie says he did not, and Mr.. Mu
Q. About how many young girls Of this az
Indirecty7 A. think six or seyen. had mott
ing to do with the investigation. ! let my co
leagues conduct 1t entirely. a..
VI
Wen, II was delicate subject, and Mr. Hart an
Mr. Stewart and Mr. Clews were married mel
andI was not; and thought they ought TO II
YestIgate subjects Of this Kind, and ] refralne
entirely from doing II.
o. Mr.. Harris, do you not know ~ matter
fact that two other girls at this same time wei
suspended or expelled in relation to the san
Nj; Riddle. They have got the books her
T6e Court II Mr.. Harris Knows Il. NeVerth
less, ! will rule az did before, that he mi
swear 10 IT,
A. Yes, sir.
Cross-examinntion by Mr.. Riddle: Q. Dor
Won know that Il WAS claimed, AMI by yourse
that this Oracle Hurdle, who was there at y
trial was the prOCuFoss = that she was
duClng these girls 10 20 with her down 70 N
fnom3 Was not that claimed, aud claimed
the trial, and claimed everywhere amongst YOU
A The article was written before the trial.
O. know that; but was not this all claimed
,lt trlal7 A. do not remember distinctly.
remember that after writing the article son
subseqnent Developments were shown TO me
regard to II.
o Was IL not claimed and was 1t not talk
over here in the city OF Washington that Grac
Hurdle was the girl charged with being pr
Mr. harrington. We object to that,
Mr. Riddle. think we are entitled TO tina
Tho Court II comes within the ruling OF u
nonrt elthaF eFfOneOusly or otherwise. IN