Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-11-10

ages, which is conceded on every hand to
have been the most able plea which the
walls of the new court house have echoed
for many day, if not the most powerful
ever uttered within that edifce.
The eleven jurymen, composed of Messrs.
F. B. Bass, G. W. Clark, F. M. French,
James Dingle, Joseph Brinhall, j. s.
Cooper, Charles Bauer, A. Fons, j. Fl. Bob
rer and Charles Frey, were promptly in
their places, and after the transaction of
some other business by the court Mr.. Bris
bin resumed his plea at 1890 from the
point arrived al on Thursday afternoon,
and spoke almost uninterruptedly until
nearly O'Clock.
The defense, he said, in all its testimony
and statements had really gwen the attor-
ney of the prosecution no tangible facts
to grapple with, and it was hardly worth
the bringing out of legal siege guns to an
initiate hen coop. They had rested
their case on general assertions when, TO
accomplish anything they needed parti-
cular facts to prove his client shyster.
The court room had been flooded with the
filth from helrs Office all the way up from
1876 as poured out by it on Gribble, even
up to the very threshold of this
trial, but just now the defendant
| had discovered it had over
stepped its shrewdness, knew that a Meme
| sis was on its track, and had closed all the
port holes of publication on this subject
when the battle was the hottest.
| The animus of the Pioneer Press at this
moment was to crawl over the man its ma
| licious libel had robbed of character and
| the means of supporting his family, and
plead the baby act. The attempt of the
| learned counsel for the defense to carry
out the programme instituted by this news
paper to laugh Gribble down and belittle
him in the eyes of the jury had failed.
Character was on trial here, and though
| it might be son of Africa, or Inc most
| lowly of American free citizen-
ship whose character was in
| arraignment here, all rank and prejudice
and power come down to single level be-
fore an American jury land the lowest born
citizen of the republic stood here the equal
of the Pioneer Press.
This venom which stopped off of the re-
| yolving wheel of the Pioneer Press, scat
tering its filth; hit or miss, was first
aimed at Gribble because he had an ambi
| ton like other men to run for Office, and
had moved into certain district to become
| a nominee for the judgeship of municipal
| court. With the same propriety,in the right
of every man to seek to obtain Office, it
could throw the anathema of shyster and
| half-imbecility at Hubbard and Biermann,
| because they had exercised their privilege
| to ask the votes of the
people for the governorship. Judge
MCMILLAN moved over into the Ninth dis
trict to become nominee for Office, and
was successful in obtaining it, but was he
"shyster" for so doing? Seagrave Smith
moved into Stearns county to secure an
Office and was defeated, but he could not
be denominated a ''shyster" for go doing.
Ambition for Office was not sin. The
humble Gribble had, like these men,
moved by his ambition, changed his loca-
| ton to obtain nomination for Office, and
because the Pioneer Press was opposed he
was characterized as ''shyster, half i'm
beetle, the butt of the town." and all the
dogs of that journal were unleashed and a
fearful tempest raised to crush fly.
| The defense claim that all this venom
thrown upon an unoffending citizen was
to reap revenge on Captain Castle and
General Hawley, and consequently that it
might do this, every one must stand from
under. The Press dared not commence a
libel suit in this city against Captain Cas-
tie, who was ready fighter, for it would
be laughed out of town for such an act,
but it stole down to Winona to assassinate
him and commenced an action for libel
against him in the courts there, while I'M
like royal lion, but with the miserable
animus of a jackal which preys on the
dead, it proceeded to dissect the character
| n q nj he
was q component of the political god
head with which it was doing filthy battle.
The only difference there was between the
Pioneer Press and Dispatch, as vehicles of
ilth, was that of two torpedoes, the former
exploding with loud noise and singing
and the other exploding with a loud noise
and sinking.
The defense had offered no justification
in specific terms for the libeioUs attacks.
Its arraignment of lawyers and other re-
spectacle gentlemen on the witness stand
had been pitiful as far as their testimony
as to incompetency had anything to do
with a shyster, or that application had
anything more to do with the legal than
with other professional or business call.
ings, although they to man refused to
apply the offensive term to Gribble. The
| sSottioAI VI OLuoI RcAilcLucu as W GclO-
ble's being shyster was forcibly predica-
ted on their ignorance of the
real meaning of this word, although
the dictionary gave its definition as ''a
trickish knave, one who comes on any
business, especially legal business, in a
dishonest way" All this character of evil
dence which had been brought forward in
defense was to try and lessen the amount
of damages which the jury might bring In.
The word shyster was derived from the
German word ''shys" which meant dirt.
fifth, excrement." Why it should be ap
piled so particularly to the legal profes-
sion he could not imagine, but thought it
could be appropriately divided up among
other classes of professional and business
life. Its real meaning was cowardiee,
| filthy work, dishonest tricks, and it was
coined in the connection of this
libel by the devilish ingenuity of the
P. p. in its malice against GribbIe, to
belittle him in the eyes of the public be-
cause he did not please this newspaporial
autocrat.
It's use of the word "shyster"
was for robbing this man of his
reputation and to crush him, as it well
knew that in the mind of the public a diff
ferent and always disreputshle meaning
would be applied TO Gribble from its hav-
ing applied the epIthet to him
4 IL