Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-12-24
"BLlGHTED HOPES.
SHIT Against n Newspaper for Ter
Thousand Dollars.
An Innocent Young Man Charged will
Being Poet.
He Claims that his Base Ball Prospects
Have Been Annihilnted.
lMcmrhls A,nlenele.l

Mr.. Henry Graft, Jr., yesterday
through his attorneys instituted u SUIT
IN the circuit court against the Appeal
for $4,000 damages, the ground for the
suit being arccpnt llbelous article IN
the 'Old Reliable which has injured
the Young mans base bali prospects
forever, Pine foiiowius ia.a text of the
bill:
Henry Graft, Jr., W. The Appeal
newspaper etc, before Hon, j. o..
Pierce, etc, etc. Your complainant,
Henry Graft, alleges that on the lBth
of December, 1888, libelous article
or editorial appeared in the columns
OF the said Memphis Appeal, reileo.-
ing upon the complainant and dam.
aging his fair name and inme. said
article Is made part hereof and died
herewith; but more specifically does
ne claim 10 have been damaged by the
following paragraph;
THE INcENDlARY PARAGRAPH.
"We congratulate our young friend
Craft on his creative, inventive
genius, his ideality and his romance.
| But we regret TO see his corrusohlions
shining out like brilliant meteor
through the murlty clouds OF a dark
and dismal melancholy Ills little
poem Is "A wall OF despair. But even
| In this he shows the first prerequisites
for a great poet, for Burns llYed on
sorrow, and COwper, paradoNiehi Us II
may seem, WAS miserable unless ne
was unhappy, Even at the age OF
| II Byron %as SO sad anu melancholy
! that he wrote:
"sOhl memory torture me no more,
The presents ali o'areass
! Ny hopes OF future bbss are DER
Ia mercy veil the paats'
"Byron gave way 70 sadness, naisan-
| t,,ro,,y and melancholy before " be-
| came him, He had not suffered ana
acted enough Ia the world TO be seized
/ with despair, aud we hope our ifiend
| Graft viii rebuild his 'bafque, soothe
4 his 'passicn-blighted besrt. 'tand he'll
| lind iifels flowers peYfumed with the
fragrnnce of 10y. 1e can achieve
yrentnesx as n poet. for the gem we
| nuhlisb above elbows that he has FER
Inc field OF poeticnl genius from which
he can reap AN immortal harvest, ana
that be p0ssesses that othes ingredient
necessary to make q poet--iilelapchoiy
despair" 80. a., IA
cause Of this editorial was poem en-
titled "Blighted Hopes which was
WRITTEN SIXTY YEARS 800
and eopled In college paper, Of which
he II editor. lie denies tla' ne cyei
s,tbor Of II was Robert Eminet Hooe.
He denies that he possesses creative,
inventive genius, ideality and ronihhee
4 He states that he Is a trnth.telDng,
weIl.behayed hoy. aud never did any
4 thing mean ia Ills life. He denies
that his corrnseatlOns shine out iIk'
n brilliant meteor through the nlnfBy
Glands on d dark and dismal nirlAn'
choly. He states that he " ENJOY
/ mo good health and never had IN
nc3rrussatlonsn In his life. lie az
,nits that he had the measles nDa
whoopiuy cough several years ago, Ia
saya his appetite IL now excellent an
4 III can lick any man in his class ~
1 states that he never met Burns, low
Mr. ~ Byron, aad could not hLve com
,nItted the offsnxe alleged. That ~
effort To couple him with persons VIII
whom he II unaequainteh - iaslng ~
u,,f,,ir advantage Of him. He deDis
that be ought - rebuild his 'barqhe,
ml ssvEa MAD 4 "DAnorE,"
and wouIdn,l know what 10 do wiz
one If he did, he denies that, ~
heart Il '.passion-blighted," and 7
nroof thereof states that he - oni
.dghteen years old. and ~ captain o.
bss. Lall nine. he states that IN
ei,ort 10 drag bis heart Ia the queetio
Il Al unworthy device 10 Induce hi
10 teil whether bis sweetheart bi
gone back on him. de states that
l,as no desire 10 aehleYe greatness ~
poet, rs IL would materially impair ~
,,sefllness 10 a game 81 football. Con