The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-04-25
HAD CRITICIZED THE COURT
In an Article Published in the
Omaha Bee.
HE SAID SOME ONE HAD "PULL'
And the Judge Summoned Him and
SummariIy Sentenced Him, but
He Was Afterward Released.

a,
editor of the Bee, was to-day sentenced to
Imprisonment for thirty days and to pay a
fine of $500 for alleged contempt of court
Without being given an opportunity tc
appeal, Mr.. Rosewater was ordered taken
TO jail at once. and for six hours he was
behind the bars of the Douglass County
Jail. At P. NJ. the State Supreme Court
granted a supersedeas, and Mr.. RosewateI
was released until the case can be re-
viewed by the higher court.
The alleged offense committed by Mr..
Rosewater was in allowing to be printed
in the Bee local article in which it was
stated that there was evidently some par
TALLY shown to certain criminals in the
District Court as of two men caught rob-
bling railroad depot, he poor man was
sentenced TO prison and the son OF wealthy
parents was given his liberty without the
case coming to trial.
The facts in the case were not denied.
but Judge G. r. Scott, who had dismissed
The case in question, felt aggrieved at the
word pulp used in the article. and had
the reporter who wrote the matter brought
before him for contempt. After a dis
graceful scene in court the reporter was
sent up for thirty days, and then Judge
Scott concluded to arraign the editor uf
the paper on the same charge.
AS Judge Scott has been most bitter
and vlndictive political enemy of Mr.. Rose
water it was generally believed that the
action taken was for personal spite. The
case was called for hearing to-day, and
nearly the whole bar of Douglass County
oF oit in
court to listen to the proceedings Evil
dence was introduced to show that Mr..
Rosewater knew nothing Of the article
complained of; that he was not in the Of
fee on the date of its publication; that he
had not directed the matter. and in fact
was entirely ignorant that an article of
any such nature was about to appear.
In spite of the evidence Judge Scott de-
clared the defendant guilty, and, after CIV
ing him a severe tongue-lashing that pro-
voked some demonstration from the au-
ditors, the Judge started to impose SEN
tence without giving Mr.. Rosewater an
opportunity to be heard.
But the editor proposed TO have his
rights and he interrupted the court with a
demand that he be heard. This the court
DIT uIsG IeluSou " grant, Uub MI. llUoo-
water insisted, and. after much confusion,
he said:
IF men who own property, who run cor
porations. who employ men in various
walks of life-if these men were held re-
sponsible for the criminal conduct of all
their employees. there would lot be jails
enough in America to accommodate them.
1t is monstrous doctrine. l would rather
rot in forty iails and prisons than to sur
render what has been fought for by the
fathers of this republic, which includes the
liberty of the press TO criticize public ser
vants-and the courts are public servants
as much as any other class, from repre-
sentatives in the legislative halls in the
capitol al Lincoln or Washington. / shall
cheerfuliy submit to this ordeal. 1t will OF
hurt me. If there is anything that | am
guilty of, if / have been guilty of any con-
tempt at all. 1t is the contempt Of my
fellow citizens for helping G lionel Scott 10
become Judge of this district"
At the conclusion of Mr.. Rosewater's
talk Judge Scott ordered the Sheriff to
hurry the prisoner to the County Jail to
serve out the sentence OF thirty days. 1t is
the general belief Of lawyers that the find
ing of the court will be overturned by the
Supreme Court when the case comes up
for review. No court proceedings held in
this city for years has caused so many ex-
pressions of condemnation directed at the
court. The sentence was the chief topic
of discussion in the city to-day.