Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1880-12-09

Dipu bl ! ~ ~. lnS hlttfnOOn NrbsiDu Wth |
entirely taken up with argument in tn,
will case of Smiths executors w Clemson,
continued from .he morning session. A
5.50 the court adjourned until Tomorrow
morning,
NEW CASTLE Dec. 2--Court met a,
10 TO- shu eiter the iransaouon of SOM
miner business procet dtd with the case OF
thu Delaware State Fire and Marin'
lnsuIsuoe Company W.. William I.
Oroa, dale. lie ty,deLoe was all il
Wednesday.
Mr.. Lore opened the argument for the
plaintiffs and spoke substantially as follows
tit1,tifmen of the Jury: | need not say
to yun that this case is one of great import
ance-that II Is one OF the grayest cases ever
before jury III this county 1t IL grave and
far-reachlng for two reasons 1t Involves
necessarily, the question Of the Use and abuse
of the public press this question pervades
this entire cuhe. The facts III this case show
either IL proper use of the press or else us vile
abuse ui Its privilege aS WAS ever known; this
question ui use and abuse of the public press
necessarily springs from this cAse. Another
vital question Involved here IL the protection
of private reputation, and | embrace III this
term ull private corporations hs well as III
dvdnus. because private corporations are
lust us much IL person, though All artificial
one, Nh we ARE natural persons. one Is the
creature of the law the other the creature vi
God both are the same III legal seuse anu
both are entitled to equal protection before
the law
Now, who are the parties in this case? lou
have OH the one hand the editor OF news
paper u newspaper published III Wilmington
of large circulation aud faf-ruaching Influence
1t il not confined to the limits ul the state,
but il scattered broadcast throughout this
whole land; with lower Tor good or Ill
IL. sail min
the country. If 1t be venom it poisous the
very air ui the land If il be truth 1t will dt
good aud ought to be given the widest pub
licity it 1t be slander it ought to be stopped
and We are here to ask YOU to stop 1t We say
that it is venom; that 1t Is slander and the
editor of this paper Is the defendant III this
case with either poison lurking behind his
pen, or for the public good has lie said the
things for which he is now here as the
defendant in this case
On the other hand we have the plaintiff i'll
the case one of the institutions of your
State seeking to do business iii your midst
whether fairly or not you will be able to judge
by the evidence before yon it il composed oi
your fellow citizens whom all of you know
they have stakcd their fortunes and Their
good names i'll that business and they come
before YOU in this cause III defense OF their
reputation aud of their rights AZ citizens of
the state. lhese are the parties to this cause
the editor of newspaper who represents
the only power of the paper that published
the libels which are the basis of this charge,
and Il private corporation OF tins state legally
licensed to do business here. They are now
before You, not for the first time; they have
been in court before hut now their positions
are reversed the editor III now the defendant
and the company is the plaintiff In It's
essence the charge is slander which l need
not define to you. You will remember Addi-
sons definition. 1t is the best that
know of and may be found III
Addison on "Wrongs.' lie says Islander
is words intended to do injury to the
reputation and character of person. Label
ls simply Islander published either written On
printed, and Is ten tunes worse than sander,
because il lives after We are dead and eNtrt-
its buneful Influence long after the effects ol
slander have passed away. The antiquarian
may come across it centuries hence lie may
fish out this paper because 1t Will 1--we ages
after YOU and aru goue-and Gind the record
of this libel so YOU can see how much more
widespread aud powerful is the effect OF lbei
over that of simple slandcr. Aud the law
Justly holds libel 70 he IL gravor ofense than
SANDER, for words said in the heat OF passlul
are not to be given the same weight az word
carefully written and, as i'll tins case, pub
lished The law holds II person to II strlctei
accountability for slandtr published than fui
slandcr verbally uttered, not only becallN'
they live longer but also because 1t Is dellb'
crate expression and presumably witt
fraud Is ii libel, and yuu will find that tile
books ~ regard it 1t Is II libel on Its face
Mr. Lore then referred to the various ait
Giles i'll EVERY EvESiSG, which are alleged by
the plaintiff HI being liheluuS, and hald tina
the nth of them all WAS to be found III th'
article published in the issue of October 5th
1887, which he read and commented upon IL
he went along III IL sarcastic and bitter man
her. line language to which lie especially
directed the attention Of the inrN was til"
which charged the company with being
rotten and worthless fraud and warning th
people ut Delaware that ANY money invcStc,
in its business wuull ''go into the pockets -
pair of rasculS that ought To be III jail u
also commented at length upon tho mtlcl
published on December llth, 1879, IN whlc
the report of Joseph l.. Carpenter, Jr
Thomas Darlington and Samuel Murphy wa
referred tn as II White washing report aud ii
making these men morally Responsible for an
luss that those people wOh d sustain WI
might he induced to do business with IT,
company on account OF the representation
made III tins report. lie called attention I
the fact that this attack on the compal
was not while it was located III Delnwar
City. but after its removal to Wilmington M
reorganization 10y William l}right.Dr, lantuli
G =. Johnson, John Wood and others, ssh
he referred to as mcu ''whose private chara
ter and reputation for integrity are co-eNtei
sive with the domains OF the state" II
claimed that with the original Delaware stat
Fire and Marine Insurance Company Millc
started ut Delaware city, the plaintiffs hi
nothing to do and could not lie held accouIl
able for any ut its acts. II il tue charact
of the company as conducted i'll Wllmingtt
after the present cOrpuraturS took charge
1t that You are to pass upon aud no othe
Quoting EVERY EVENING OF the Carpent
report and commenting, Mr., Lore continued
''Who does not aee through III" Why. II
body but trOasdue there are plenty men
Wilmington who have not seen through
and whu. POOR mortnls, Iill insure in 1t. "Ho
long does the Row Mr. Caldwell propose
stand up in his pulpit ~ Il preacher of rigl
eousness With such man ns William Bright
member in good standing i'll his church
Oh such purity How the fraud must ha
et,ink in his nostrila. "Oh low long-"
though it were some Isaiah ; some prophet
old, ,standing on the mountain top and surve
ing the wickeduess and depraNity aroui
him. ''rhe Delaware State Fire and Mari
Insurance Company which started III Delawh
City and We have nothing to do with it till
moved TO Wilmington, lis" and there
where we have got them ''and always was
fraud, without the shadow of right to exist
Well. the Legislature of this State thought
had right to exist II granted it chartt
Commissioner NlcFee thought it had rig
to exist he licensed IT. but CruaSdule knO
better OH Yes, he knows better than t
Legislature better than Melee; better til
all of them. GLOW can respectable men Il
church members lenl themselves to d
fraud Z" &c. There is more of il, hut this
sufficient for my purpose; this Is the .pith
the libels gentlemen | will not read all
them. Now, these being the libelS pl
lished i'll this paper, of which def
dant il the editor, | submit
YOU if they are not every one of them infu'
with malice the malice Is apparent he
not content with attacking this company
he must follow its members INTO their PRIV
affairs into their churches and throw N
upon the pastors of the churches. Ii
meant simply to protect the interests OF
community he could have easily done &c
temperate language, and by showing i'll W
particulars it was n fraud. Not no. hOwev
he calla !. t. s'rotten fraud y delicate VI
for so pure man. Having played the !
OF a prophet he next comes AS a savior,
preserver and asks; "Can nothing preSe
the people of this community from this fran
| say ho does this. because | do not bell
that there is juryman before me who d
not believe that the defendant i'll this {
wrote every one of the articles upon which
charge III this case depends, You will rem
Der the little by-play We had here i'll the q
stages OF the case. WesummOned this deft
ant by a dlces ttclun to bring the files of
paper here, aud he brought them to G
Cuchraus office and no further he
advantage of II legal right aud refused
produce them, We then served notice
the opposing counsel but they like
took shelter behind the law. and 1t
impossible for us 10 get Inc hles III