The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1884-09-24

OF luul&na- IN the Oulteu STATES III
Circuit Court for said District OF chancery for
Indiana the indianapolis senti- discovery.
mel Company and John c. Shoe
maker vs. James G. Blaine
To the Honorable, the Judge of said Circuit Court
in ehanceTy sitting:
The compliments, the Indianapolis Ssnti-
mel Company and John @. Shoemaker, who
are resident citizens OF the State Of Indiana
complain of James G. Blaine, who is resi-
dent and citizen of the State of Maine,
who it is prayed may be made defendant
to this bill of chancery, and herein respect
fully show unto your Honors that on the
14th day of August, 1884, they were i'm
pleaded in this Court on the law side there
of at the suit of James G. Blaine, the de-
PENDANT herein, in a case of libel wherein
the complaint or declaration was in the
words and figures following tO.Wit:
THE COMPLAINT.
United States of America, District OF Indiana in
the Circuit Court Of the United states for said
District
James G. Blaine, plaintiff vs. the In-1
dianapOlis Sentinel Company and Libel.
John c. Shoemaker, defendants
James G. Blaine, the plaintiff above named,
citizen Of the State of Maine, complains of
the said defendants, the Indianapolis Senti-
mel Company. q corporation created by and
under the laws of Indiana, and q citizen of
said State, and John c. Shoemaker, who is
also a citizen Of said State of Indiana, and
says that the defendant company is the
owner and publisher OF daily newspaper
called the indianapolis Daily Sentinel, which
is printed and published at the city of In
dianapolis, in said State of Indiana; thet the
defendant, John G. Shoemaker, is the Presi.
dent and business manager OF said company,
and as such directs and controls the pubiica-
ton Of said newspaper; that on the Sth day
of August, a. d. 1884, the said defendant,
wickedly intending to injure, defame and
scandalize the plaintiff. did maliciously print
and publish in the regular daily issue OF said
paper for that day Of and concerning the
plaintiff q certain false, defamatory and
scandalous article in the words following,
that is TO say:
CAN BLAINE AFFORD IT?
"The campaign war against Mr.. Cleveland
is, to say the least, an indecent one. Find
ing no vulnerable point in his public rec
ord, the enemy have assalled supposed
irregularity in his private conduct. They
have dressed and redressed the affair until
the naked facts of it are but small part of
the furbelowed, frilled and ruffled bizzare
figure Waiting in the Blaine-Republican
prints. This besmirching of private charac-
ter is the stock in trade of the Blaine folks;
it is all they have TO offer against the Demo.
cratic candidate.
"BuJ can James G. Blaine afford this plan
of battle? If his own TANKS are so unpro-
teeted as they are currently understood to
be, is he not provoking scathing fire by per-
uniting these assaults on Grover Cleveland?
The Democracy will hardly remain quiet
upon Blaine's inner life when his supporters
are Tesorting to mountaineering against
its candidate. The charges of sduction made
upon Mr.. Cleveland, and which are false
upon their very face-can, it appears, be
turned on Blaine and made to stick. There
is hardly an intelligent man in the country
who has not heard that James G.. Blaine be-
trsyed the girl whom he married and then
only married her at the muzzle of shot.
gun. The Democratic press has had the
magnanimity not to put forth these reports.
which must suse pain TO the members of
Mr. Blalne's family. The Republican papers
have long known OF them, and have allowed
them to go undenied. III Mr.. Blaine was
the scoundrel TO betray an innocent girl; if,
after despoiling her he was the craven to re-
fuse her legal redress, giving legitimacy to
her child, until loaded shotgun stimulated
his conscience, then there is a blot on his
private character more foul, if possible, than
any OF the countless stains on his political
record. His conduct discloses a moral OBJ
hQulty rendering him Hndeservlng social
confidence, and an unfit man to be Presi.
dent A candidate with such a record can
not afford to assail his opponent. As be-
tween Cleveland and Blaine, what fair
minded voter can hesitate to pronounce the
At4AbC4 q CACdnCA duO pl1CA AudA4
That a large number OF copies OF said
newspaper, tO-wit, 5000. were upon said dav
caused TO be circulated and distributed
throughout the said city of Indianapolis and
throughout the State of Indiana.
That, by reason of said publication, plain
tiff has been damaged in the sum of so, Goo
for which sum be demands Judgment.
HARRISON, MILLER & ELAN,
Attorneys for Plaintiff.
And afterwards t0.Nit, on the 4th day Of
September, 1881 your orators fled in sad
suit their certain answer or plea to the sid
complaint or declaration in the words and
figures following:
united States of America. District OF Indisns, IN
the Circuit Court for said District.
James G. Blaine vs.. the lndla1aDolis Sentinel
Company and John G. Shoemaker. Answer and
1nterrOsAtories.
The defendants answering herein say that
they admit the printing and publishing of
the article set forth in the complaint in the
Indianapolis Daily Sentinel OF the Sth day
Of August 1884, as herein charged, and that
5000 copies of said newspaper were upon
said day oy the defendants circulated aud
distributed throughout said city of Indian
apolls and the said State OF Indiana. These
defendants deny that said article was false
in any particular thereof, for the defendants
ssy that long before the date and time OF
publication Of the article complained OF as
aforesaid the said James G. Blaine, the plain
w. was IldlIleu III me CITY OF 1lLJ8OUI4,
Penn. on OF about the 10Th day of March,
1851, 70 one Harriet Stanwood, who then and
there became and has ever since been bis
wife; that for long time Immediately be-
fore said marriage the SAID Blaine had sought
the society OF said Harriet, she being wo-
man OF blameless life and of good repute for
chastity and virtue; that daring the period
OF time last aforesaid prior to marriage the
said Blaine continuously paid to her all the
attention incident to courtship between the
sexes. That he therein gained her conf
dence, and By his deceitful w1les and bland
isbDenss seduced her from the path of recti-
tuds."
The answer then recites the fact that the
condition OF the then Harriet Sfanwoo3 be-
came publicly known of all men, the said
Harriet 'claYe to the said Blaine. and much
be@ought him that he should make repsra-
ton TO her for the wrong which he had done
unto her. which said reparation the said
Blaine st first declined and refused to make,
but, being afterwards strongly urged thereto,
And violently threatened with chastisement
and punishment therein for his said wrong
doing and perchance repenting him OF the