Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-01-07
Briefly Stated.

Ne,cs objected, and concerning whom
it demanded names.
The implied allegations are elabora
ted as follows:
/, That criticisms of subordinate Of
fcials of the court are not assaults up
on the integrity of the court.
,. That the machinery Of legal pro-
cedure was not planned to silence
public discussion of the public conduct
of public men and public measures.
>. That the criminal code was never
contemplated as a means to subjugate
the press by or to any authority.
The exact language used by the
JOURNAL was as follows:
When they (the courts become screens be-
hind which servants of the people can take
refuge, and from which libel suits to silence
free speech and indictments to suppress the
liberty of the press can be shot out whenever
the fanced cXigencies of the situation seem
to require it, the higher court of the people
will eventually assert its own prerogatives.
In part proof whereof we quote as
follows from the brief submitted to
the Court of Appeals for j. w. Avirett.
Its statements are commended especi
ally to careful, critical readers:
r x The first count alleges that the
article was libel on Judge Hoffman the
second on States attorney Sloan; the third
on clerk Luman; the fourth on sheriff War
NJ oh I,n oil Of ,flic
To support an indictment there must be
aol1s reasonable certainty tina. the vorta Te-
'"-ge1 {" the persons named
We respectfully Submit tiJt uu reasonable
construction OF the alleged lDolous words
contained in the Indictment can MAKE them
refer to the Judge or the Clerk or the Sheriff.
The Cumberland Times republished an
article from the New York Heraid winch was
an attack on the prosecuting attorney of that
city for not doing his duty in the prosecution
of violations of the excise law. The attack
was upon the prosecuting attorney, and upon
him alone, upon no other person whatever
q x The record dlsClOseS that the State's
attorney was the only witness before the
grand Jury. The alleged ibelous article
clearly refers to him and him alone. AS is
shown by the record, traverser intended to
Justify rs against him. The effect of the
counts charging libel on the Judge, the Clerk
and the Sheriff ,raS TO make the issue c0naplcE .
10 di,iract attention from the real issue to pre-
rent, ~ nj least mate ii diHcMt for h'areyScr
TO present his case clearly o,ld singly before tie
jury, u = The article was manifestly
striking at the states attorney, and 1t is
sought to apply the attack to the Judge OF
court, the Clerk and the Sheriff. \ x
But each count in the indictment shows
clearly and unequivocally that the article
could only apply to one Of the public officers
in the Court House, to wit the States at
tOrney. The language does not warrant an
application to any other officer. To make ii
apply by innuendo to the Judge, the Clerk or
the Sheriff is to make one part of each count
contradictory to another part. To make the
quotation from the New York Hcrold
apply to the Judge, the Clerk or the Sheriff
is Il peryerson of language which no ingen-
uity and skill in the use of the coNO9ui,tm
and inrucndo can justify or sustain. \ x
w. c. DEvECMoS
A. II. BoYp,
j. n. Wilson,
FERD. WILLIAMS,
K. r. SEMMEs,
for Traverser.
In the first place, Mr.. Avirett's at
torneys state that the Judge, clerk and
sheriff were not only not impeached by
the ''Iibelous publication" but could
not haye been. If this be true, wha,
office does Judge Hoffman's good name
perform as an occasion for an indlct'
mept if not that of Il screen which
masks some weakness in the armor
the parsonage really assaulted and real
ly aggrieved?
In the second place-the JOURNAL
does not rely upon the Avirett brief
to establish its belief that the law has
been mlsused to repress the right of
popular discussion, but the trend of
the prosecution of Avi EFT is as plainly
intolerant Of free speech as of a free
press. Indeed, the two liberties are
reciprocal and interdependent. One
could not live long enough to shed a
tear over the other dead.
The third proposition is illustrated
by the apparent necessities of the case,
as indicated in the brief"
The JOURNAL imagineS it need 90
no further toward the establishment of
what was originally a very mild i'm,
parchment of super-sensitive client
of the uper-serviceable Ne,CS.
1t must say, however, that this arti-
Gle is a salubrious zephyr compared
with the desolatng tornado Of logic
inst written--a modification, it Is can
didly admitted, supcrnduced by the
latest and apparently the most extra
ordinary Of all the States interven-
tions-that of espousing the cause OF
one of its private citizens against
another private citizen.
The JOURNAL does not aspire to mar
tyrdom, nor even to a conspicuous seal
IN the glorious company of the Para.
disc Regained" of perfect individual
liberty. 1t fully understands that
there is no prestige to be won in gong
TO Jail nor pleasure to be enjoyed in
the increment of unearned indictments
AID .inoa ono 1,-bo,, a..