, 1880-02-29
CHAPPBLL-MERRH1L,
This We11-Known Individual Be-
gins a Suit for Slander.
The Court Refuses to Entertain It.
Some Interesting Testimony.

!
/ Some Interesting Testimony.
| A few days ago a person giving his name
as Richard W. ChapbeA complained to Jus
tice Robinson that Joseph Lean, Of No. 147
| West Indiana street, had committed an
offense against the statutes, inasmuch as that,
t on Feb. II. the said Joseph published in
+ writing, with intent to impeach the honesty,
| integrity, and reputation Of the said Chan
! pell, q postalcard containing malicious
|. defamation Of the MBant. thereby tending to
| expose him, the aforesaid Chappeli, to
public hatred, contempt, ridicu1e, or
| financial injury, which. of, course
constituted libel upon the fair fame of
! Chappel!, hereinbefore mentioned. Justice
Robinson issued State warrant, and yester-
[. day the parties came into court. ChappeIl
|. conducted his own case, while D. 2.
Hendricks and John Wagner showed up for
the defendant, an old man III brown wig.
THE LIBEL COMPLAINED OF!
was written on postal-card, addressed to
the Merrill Manufacturing Company, al al
legged Institution asserted to have Offices In
the Uhlich Block, and read as follows:
l47 WEST INDIANA STREET, Feb. II, 1851
Incarceration in tie prison cell and only regret
with many Others Of your victims, that you hive
not to serve term OF years in tho Penftentiary,
deservedy merit, aud which conrt of justice I
have no doubt ere long will cons'gn you to- AS
once to!d yon. your circulars are printed in
studied language to deceive, and tt IS my Wish
that your rAscality, scoundrelfsm, and deception
:snnn q lin ne gcneraliy known: ~ .., J. LEAN.
KY Ut aaGe asy any exceptions to this you cannd
- c4AppEL
was his own witness; He told how he re-
feelings we're outraged by the receipt, and
how he feared bis y business' might be
i9jutea by such e communications. m ,; Then
to tslyn him metaphorically inside out. The
witness owned that he carried OF, business
under a number Of aliases such as r. ".
Chappe!!. Merrill {, Co., Merrill Mann
hn1inaagg hfaetinrng compSSn{ and 50 on Els
viii patented al articles He' aaysEfsed ssiHsa
largely under all the names referred to, and
used different names for, ".our firm " In order
TO see which brought in the best returns, and
ea sgais gsuSee % % %s~nsa G1sfE t p 81
Chappcll. was, in his own proper person,
each, all, and every one of these alleged COM
panies. lie was the man and responsible, ut
least So he said. Witness acknowledged that
etc. iM the different names~-Merlill i Co,
Chappcll- the: same amount each.
He i5d not know whether any
eep eeay M ad 5cner Eeaa t the R9st1feed tat s
he had been arrested for obtaining money
under false pretenses, but 1tO the best OF
Ills knowledge" he had not been arrested
for embezzlenient or swindling. lie did not
ns knoS 8 the the name Of anX assnt who had
tisenlent, but, there was always some lee
way granted in advertising" Witness
could not, Of course, swear positively that
Lean wrote the postal-card, rs he did mt see
with letters OF his previously received. Wit
ness identified an article published in THE
TRIBUNE OF Dec. 10, 1879, and rejecting on
some one Of the numerous aliases Of Chap
John Wagner demanded that the case be
dismissed, il THIS was a|l the evidence. It had
or that Chapel! had been injured by any
reflections which might have been made oil
fhc Me1 Msnfactn1ng Company Sfther
evidence offered was that given by the prose
cutor,-a man who had already testified that
he had been arrested for obtaining money
under false pretenses; The statute said thet
alleged libel, and he,. believed that it had al
ready been shown What kind Of q lnan this
The Court said lie would hear further testi-
eaIed to testify % as IS % To- prices If auveFtising
lie succeeded in demonstrating the III
accur3cy of number of Chappe}l-J -JIcrrill's
statements in regard to the alleged saying |
made by using al alias df twenty~nine letters !
IN place of his alleged name, which contains
but ten..
CT. BECK,
Of No. 329 Larrabec street, was called for the !
defense. lie said Chappell sold him OIL Dec. !
&, 1879, washing compounds and silver polish I
to the amount Of $3.50 Witness paid half !
the amount and got credit for the rest.
Henry County, and promised to ship the goods |
by express to Woodstock the next day. but |
did not 10 so. Witness waited in Woodstock |
three days, and finally got disgusteA and re- !
o saa q a 9ss s ad iM not 8"eRe eeea
Witness asked for the goods, saying he !
would take them along, but Merrill refused !
TO hand them over, and told witness to go |
BACK to Woodstock and wait for them. l1e
returned it. Witness got i warr3nt from
Justice Kaufman and had Chappell arrested.
Witness lost the S1275 he paid, and about S.
expenses to Woodstock and return.
Chappcll cross~eSamined the witness, at
washing on Monday and Tuestlay the proper
time for delivering the goods was Thursday,
Friday, or Saturday: and that lie refused to
deliver the stuff to Beck in Chicago because
LlE &@Ht1ptC41j A1tt C'$5"61u W oHAQ ~ ~
Woodstock. 49,
JAMES LEAN,
Of 10. 147 West Indiana street, defendant IN
this case, testified that in September last he
was attracted by soDleof Chappell's circulars.
The end OF it was. that witness. bought 100
went out to Niles, Mich, to sell the powder
at 50 cents per box. The circulars
gave full Instructions how to dis
pose Of sample packages, and alleged
these, which were given away, would hunger
and thirst for the coming Of the agent with
Ills 5Qceut packages. Furthermore, they
were to subscribe freely for family rights"
and the powder was to sell like hot cakes
Witness tried it fur two weeks, and got rid OF
about half Ills luad, most OF it at e5 cents per
package. Despairing Of ever getting any
hing back, he returned to Chicago and III
formed ChappeI1 that he was a sWindler and
1 fraud. Witness could not swear that the |
erritory {Berrien County,. Michigan) was
absolutely assigned to him, but Ctap,ell was
% give him territory which had not been |
previously cunfassett. He found, however,
hat two men had been there before him, and
le was out SIT or SIS expenses. beside his loss
This was all the evidence. Mr.. Hendricks
made a scuthing speech In regard to the man
It many aliases, who had, he said, robbed an
I'D man near 70 years of age and an un-
sophisticated German. ;:of their little all.
Chappell was one of a class, too plentiful in
Chicago, who sWfndied people and yet
escaped justice through defects In the law,
md it was utterly impossible to libel him.
THE COURT