The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-16
PLEADING THE BABY ACT,

ply" made by the Sentinel in answer to
Mr.. Blaine's libel suit:
'The suit ordered by James G.. Blaine
against the Sentinel is an entertaining one
It is the first of the kind ever brought by a
candidate for the presidency. Its precipita-
ton is extraordinary. The grounds on which
bringing makes it an attempted injunction-a
threat by implications against any printing
by the press of the current scandal concerning
his private life.
"A reading of the editorial sued upon shows
that the charge of malice is ridiculous. The
reports it referred to are not only common
talk throughout the country, but have here
tofore, also, been printed. The article really
constituted but an inquiry. Does Mr. Blame
shrink from newspaper investigation into his
private record7 Was he sure, when ordering
this legal action, that it would be determined
before election dayP Could he not have found
a speedier way for proving the reports against
him unfounded-if unfounded they bel
1.-THE truth is, Mr.. Blaine, under the mask OF
inviting, is fighting investigation He in
vokes the tardY processes of civil law by an
action intended to deter the press from dis
cussing his private life. He calls electricity
to his aid to hurry the suit for frightening
other papers from exposing him. It is a pro-
ceeding worthy of the man who stole the
Mulligan letters"
The entire mess-for it is nothing more
than verbal hodge podge, intended to conceal
the only too evident fact that the Sentinel
has no adequate reply to make-is written in
the same low key. That it is insincere needs
but moments investigation to demonstrate.
The fact that this is the first suit of the kind
fever brought by candidate for the presi-
dency" the Sentinel would like to distort into
reflection upon Mr.. Blaine, whereas it but
emphasizes its own infamy in directing atten-
ton to the fact that this is the first instance
in the history of this country that partisan
organs have gone low enough to Islander the
honored wife of a presidential candidate.
That the Sentinel itself regards this as an
attempt to enjoin the press from publishing
the truth on any subject nobody will
for an instant believe. The Sentinel knows,
as well as it knows that this is campaign year,
that there is absolutely nothing in the bring
ing of this suit to prevent it publishing ex-
actly what it chooses. It knows, too that if
it had any good reason to believe the infamy
it gave utterance to, it would appear to-day
with the editorial in question in black type,
reafirmed and emphasized. It must have
known on Friday, the 9Th inst, that the i'm
plication it published was maliciously false
and ibelous, and evidently for that reason
it proclaimed it alphabetically, if by chance
it might escape legal responsibility through
such cowardly technicality If it had any
reason to believe the story then, why did it
not publish the story as fact9 If it believes
it now, why does it not reafirm ita The
argument that this suit cuts off comment is
too specious to deceive anybody. If the
Sentinel pleases, it may have its editorial re-
produced daily in black type of size that will
make it cover an entire page and this may be
kept up until the case comes to trial,
OF until after the November election. And it
need not stop at that it can unqualifedly
affirm what it has been dastardly enough only
to insinuate. True, there is the danger of a
criminal suit, but if it believes that it is right
it need fear nothing.
Never, perhaps, in the history of Indiana
journalism has baser libel been uttered nor
a more contemplate justification been pre-
sented in defense. Pleading the baby act,
that the charge was not made specifically but
was simply an inquiry, is beneath the dig
nifty of any respectable paper Put yourself
in the place of the man against whom this
Enquiry was directed what would you,
reader, think of it, What would be your
first impulse9 Mr.. Blaine, doubtless, would
like to take the scurrilous writer by the throat,
and never relax his grip until the breath Of
life was choked out of him. Many man has
been horse-whipped for just such cowardly
and infamous business; many one has been
killed, and the indignant husband has been
turned acquit both by courts and public opin,
ion. Is it personal attack that the Sentine
invites when it says:
1.-THE action of Mr.. Blaine in flying to the
courts gives the lie to the whole pretense that
he is a plumed knight. The action bellies the
character"
Does such pitiful braggart and blusterei
forget his insignifcancea Mr.. Blaine has
taken the only honorable course open to him
Not ''for the money there is in it. but that
tits the only way prescribed by law whereby
he can punish the defamer Of his wife and
children. Without waiting an instant to learr
when the federal court would meet in thi.
district, and without weighing the effect such
course would have on his presidential pros
poets, but with the sense Of his duty as hus