Daily Republican., 1880-05-25
OUR COURTS.
II assumption OF tho CrOssdale W..
Bright Libel SUIT - Argu nsents
or Uounsel- william Meal, Char.
ged with q FeloniOus Assanit,
Pleads not entity.


Special Correspondence Of the Republican.
NRw CASTLE, May "a.
At one o'clock this afternoon George
H. Bates, Esq, continued speaking -
He said: "The defense thought that
they could slip Mr.. Bright out of this
affair aud put all of the blame upon
DR.. Tantum. II was the case Of Adam
and Eve over again. Eve plucked the
forbidden fruit and bade Adam to eat
OF it, which he did, and when he was
questioned by the Lord he said: "The
woman whom thou gavest to be with
me, she gave me Of the tree and | did
eat" Following that precedent, the
defense having 70 old woman TO bear
their sins, vainly endsavor to thrust
the blame upon DR.. Tantum. The doc
tor wrote 1t himself and some one joint
Ily, as may be inferred from the words
"we" and Sour" which are used; but
Tantum like Washington who could
not tell lie, said 4 wrote it, Mr..
Bright's name was in the writing If
not used as a signature; likewise were
the names of the other officers Of the
Insurance Company.
1t is not known positively whether
Messrs. Tantum and Bright met at DR..
Tantum's residence or at the Office Of
the Delaware State Fire and Marine
Insurance Company, because the doctor
has all idea that he was sick at the time
yet he was well enough to carry the
llibe.ors article to the ofises of the
REPUBLICAN and "Gazette." After
having heard the article read and
observing its joint purposes and the
address to the public, Mr.. Bright was
bound to acquiesce with the libeler if
he did not write the article. Mr.. Croas-
dale Lad ample opportunities to throw
"mud" at the defendant, but nay, like
gentleman, he took the only good
way for obtaining redress, taking the
matter to Court.
Mr.. Bates concluded by. saying there
were two Influences by which tho
amount OF damages might be decided
upon by the Jurors First, the charac-
ter of the defendant second the char
ecter of the plaintiff.
The Jurors also shculd consider the
attempt Of Mr.. Bright to slip out Of
the matter after such long silence.
He expected a verdict which should
crush all attempts to make such libel
Gus publications, and q verdict which
shodld be commensurate with the
enormity Of the libel. He thought
the amount of damages should be pla
ced at ten thousand dollars. In con-
clusion he questioned the Jurors for
what amonnt of money would they rest
quietly for eighteen months with such
statement referring to their charac-
ters.
Court adjourned.
AFTERNOON sEsaION.
Court re-assembled at 3 o'clock and
the Croasdale VS.. Bright libel suit was
resumed.
Charles 3. Lore, ESD, counsel for the
defence, in addressing the jury said
"The counsel tor the plaintiff in the
outset said that they would prove that
the Delaware State Fire and Marine In
surance Company is aud; they since
have reiterated the assertion, and now
they will have chance to prove the
allegation. And now we are pre-
pared to meet them and we will shOw
whether or not the insurance company
is fraud or whether William Croas
dale is a public libeler.
If by auy other means he could OBJ
tain damages in such suit he would
not bring his aged mother to prove
them. She proved that he received a
salary, and he had no doubt but that
salary has been raised. At least the
man no doubt felt raised, as he had
achieved some notoriety, and the "Ev-
cry Evening" sold more rapidly.
Talk about damages, why you should
get the lady who is to be his future
wife and get those unborn babes and
then ascertain the amount of damages
which have baen sustained. My learn.
cd friend, Mr.. Bates, said William
Bright had slipped out of the matter
by the concession of DR.. Tantum. He
applied this case also to where Adam
said, "Eve gave it to me-" (speaking
of the eating of the forbidden fruiD,
and asked tho question "Would you
have DR.. Tantum lie and say he did not
do it ?"
Having disposed of what he consid-
cred the prgency Of Mr.. Bates argu-
ment, he referred to Messrs. Croasdale
and Bright as two citizens of Whining
ton. Mr.. Bright ia amiable and has
friends; he is said to be worth 100000;
VIM. Croasdale is an impecunious
man; he resolves salary amounting
to two thousand dollars per year and
with this amount he supports himself
and an aged mother. On Saturday
the libelous article was printed and on
Monday those men whose names were
attached, were arrested. Does not this
haste look like Mr.. Croasdale was very
anxious 10 secure portion OF that one
hundred thousand dollars ? If he had
not bsen overhasty do you not think
he would have taken the ordinary
course-that Of going to Mr.. Bright to
see if he had endorsed the communica-
tion, and asked him to retractP
Instead Of doing this, however, early
on Monday morning he had warrant
issued for the arrest of Mr.. Bright.
Neither common decency CT respect was
shown him, but those who had him ar
rested took a leap in the dark. III
they had asked, DR.. Tantum would
have told them that Mr.. Bright had
nothing to do"swith the article, but no,
the CLEAN of Mr.. Bright's $780, 600 at
trac!ed their eyes. If they get a por-
tion Of that amount Of money the
"Every Evening" staff possibly might
take trip Europe, the "Every Even
ing" might possibly be swollen to the
size Of the New York WHerald,N - and il |