St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-12-08
That Libel.

That Libel.
Six Years az" the prescott winter, the
CdIedoHidn reported what it called Il /
.'hald c;t>,"-Sa said case being the, fatal
illness of Il Young married woman IA"
lived on Walden mountain. and the
unsuccessful efforts of the tathcl-in-
law /" procure Il phl stefan. until to"
late /" hr of any service. 1t seemed t"
us. from the account We heard. that the
phN stefan first called. and who had
seen the patient once. MAS hlana'lc foI
not responding" to the second call !: and
We :" stated it. although We used no
names And We may H. we'll state now,
that we WrIr entirely uuIrquainIcd
with said ply >ician personally III pro-
ft>>i"nalll. and WI"tr al HIM IL We
would al any stranger
In Il few days thereafter. We received
:, long letter from In. J. :. Durant of
D.n\i lille, in which hc explained his
action in the ca>c To the extent of about
Il column. and demanded it, puhlc.I-
ton. We rave the letter in ON next
issue. which WIS the first imtimnlium
the public had of who the phN stefan
referred /" Was. We supposed this
ended the matter: until some time at
tcIWdrd> We we've waited upon hH one
\. NJ. DirkcN. Il lawyer win" had lately
moved into town. " hn informed u> that
DR.. Durnt felt himself lihrllcd 10y the
Article printed IN the Cdieti0HidH the
February prev i"u>. and he intInarcd
that he wanted Il cash compensation for
his professional disgrace and pccuniaIN
loss. We frankly told Mr.. pickrN that
no libel Vas intended ul thought of:
that the item complained of WIS printed
simply ~ Il matter of news. and in tie
interest of humanity. MI. Dickcy re-
tired. making II" sign.
To make It Ion" >t"ll short. tn, editor
at the CdIcdonidn WAS soon after sued
fol libel 10y Dr Dmant. the Doctor
putting his damages At the modest sum
at >-,OO0. After keeping the case III
tplll l'l Nff WHiN. 'llt ''llIl>tl lbl tue
Doctor announced on the reading of
the d"ckrt last Tuesday. that the ease
WAS withdrawn. the defendant ri, iug
judgment in oHc rent damages. md pay
Ing tlic costs at line Supreme Court. Il
bill which he would have t" pay IN any
event. 80 it viii Ice seen that after
pay ing the cNpcn>c> of Il law sui for
over five Years. the Doctors laceratcd
feelings are healed 10y Il penny plaster
instead of an eight Thousand dollar
palliative.
We aI',al> considered the suit unjust
and umcallcd tul. and simply an attempt
to cNIort black mail and intended l."
fight it To the bitter end hut when the
damages WrIc reduced within UHr mettHS.
we concluded /" settle. rathrr than rnn
the ease ANY l"ngrr with the hope of
eventually settling still cheaper.
w, have never used these. columns to
vent PERSONAL spite, and never intend
To. Whatever some parcIN may do. Ne
believe in IL higher sly lc "f journalism.
not I" SAY m"ial>. MOI have We argued
our case IN the nrw>papcl>. After the
SLATE papers had given publicity to the
matter. we gave the facts in the follow
ing words. which tit the case a. well
now a. they did When We penned them.
June %. ISL:
THAT LIBEL. PUTLIC VERDICT.
Ii j. pretty generally known. We sup
pose. that the farce of suing the editor
at this paper tor libel WAS enacted Il few
weeks ago. Conscious OF no malice al
intention Ia libel any body. We give
ourselves II" umca>ine>> in the matter.
1t i quite n"ticrahlc. and yIatitl III. To
us. also. t" see how the public regard
ffc ltftiI-ful the public verdict is uni
f"lmlN the true one. This jurN of pub
lie opinion has been unanimous in its
Verdict at honorable acquitt.tl.
The Montpelier Freeman. of which
Hon. Charles W. Willard j. editor. SAYS
of libel suits in general and THIS suit in
particular:
Libel suits against new spapcr> are
not. ~ Il rule. profitable to the plaintiff.
and this one ill doubtless Ice no cN-
crpti"u To- the general verdict in such
cases. Newspapers >"uIctimc>. in Civ
ing news. uniuttnrinnallN do Injustice
+" indiN idual~. but when. as in the cast.
of the rdieioHidH. the aggIirved person
has the II>,. of the columns OF the paper
IL correct erroneous statements. his
claim toI damage will not he obvious to
Il jury. Indeed. the Cditd"Hidn i 50
fairly. rapdihll and carefully edited
that il l. almost the last paper We
should have fApt.fcd L. See. in court ~
defendant in such IL suit: and it does
not >,4.HI To have hecu in ANY fault in
this r3isa..
Prepare for Winter.