The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-12-20
LIBELS.

Herald, has been indicted, tried and d
elared guilty of criminal libel, the o
fensive matter being contained in q
editorial article which appeared in b
paper some months ago, certain Fec
eral officials being the objects of hi
structures. 1t is understood that ther
are other indictments for alleged Hbt
against the gentleman, which are to
tried later on. Mr.. Hemenway has beef
q thorn in the side of the radical anti
Mormon faction of the community eve
since he has had control of the editeria
columns of our Ogden namesake, anc
has been severe and Sutspoken in his
denun Citations of the course pursued by
the Federal officials. Having facile
pen and keen perception of the mean
make it understood that he had no love
for the men who were Waging
this cruel warfare against his
people and patrons. He has fully
realized the risks that he was
running, and must have understood
that with the courts, from the Judges
on the bench to the officers who select
the jurors and the men who sweep out
the court rooms arrayed against the
cause which he championed, it was an
unequal contest into which he threw
himself; therefore the greater degree of
credit is due him for the courage of
standing by his convictions, and
bravely fighting himself into Jail. The |
editor may have been mistaken in |!
judgment, but no one will accuse him
of faltenng or failing in what he con-
ceiVed to be a duty to himself and |
thosein whose behalf he believed he
was laboring.
For the past fifteen years there has
been a good deal of talk in Utah about
ibels in newspapers, and many
have been the threats of in
dictment and punishment against
offending editors. On several occasions.
efforts have been made to punish news
paper writer's whose criticisms and as
seTtons were too caustic to suit tie tastes
OF court officials. The efforts, however.
have failed in most instances, grand
luries as rule being 10th to interfere
with the freedom of the press. In
some cases editors have been ANNOYED
and put to some trouble and expense,
and few indictments for libel have
been found, but we believe there has
been no conviction before the one noted
above. The sentiment of the com
munity is decidedly opposed to re-
stricting the liberty of the press, and is
as strongly in favor OF extending wide
latitude to newspapers in tue discussion
of men, measures and Official doings.
The people look upon the press as their
champion and the guardian of their
rights. and trust to it to pro-
tect them from official oppression
and wrong-doing So jealous are they
of the rights of the press. that in the
past, when jurors, grand and petit
we're drawn regularly from the lists
made up by the District Court clerks
and thesProbate judges, no editor could
have been convicted or even indicted for
anything he might have said that was
within the bounds OF truth, of proba-
bility or of dece1ey. It is to the people
that the newspaper fraternity must re-
turn thanks for the immunity that has
been extended them, for if some of tho
courts and officials who have held
power here could have had their wav
the jails would have been full of editors
or the Utah press been reduced to the
condition of base subserviency, instead
Of being as it is to-day. able
fearless and influential. knowing its
rights and possessing the courage to
maintain them. Whether or not the /.
protection given by 3 lenien tpublic has
not proven somewhat injurious to tbas :
public as well as to the press itself. is
something for the community 20 think
over. 1t cannot be denied that liberty
has degenerated into license, and we
frequently see in newspapers most ou.-
fageous articles, which ought TO subject
heir authors and publishers to severe :
punishment. The community is divided
nto factions, and partisanship runs
nigh; and the newspapers are too often I +,
'eckless with their charges and asser- v
ions against members of the faction 5
opposed to them. Anything is fair in II
var" has been too much, the con trolling n
eminent. Comment and criticism have s
lot been confined to public acts and N
fhcial conduct, but the private lives OF A
9th oficisis and citizens have been T
nade the subjects of newspaper expos u
&c ana anInadYersIen. To the credit CT