The record-union., 1894-04-25
AN EDITOR JAILED.
Committed for Contempt by an Omah
Tudoa

Committed for Contempt by an Omaha
Judge.
OMAHA. April A.-Edward Rosewater,
editor of the Bee, was to-day sentenced
to Imprisonment for thirty days and to
pay fine of $500 for alleged contempt of
court. Without being given an opportu
nifty to appeal, Mr.. Rosewater was or
dered taken to Jail at once, and for six
hours he was behind the bars of the
Douglass County Jail. At 6 O'Clock the
State Supreme Court granted a super
sedeas, and Mr.. Rosewater was released
until the case can be reviewed by the
higher court.
The alleged offense committed by Mr..
Rosewater was in allowing to be printed
in the Bee a 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-
bing railroad depot, the 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 re-
porter who wrote the matter brought be-
fore him for contempt. After disgrace
fui scene in court the reporter was sent
up for thirty days, and then Judge Scott
concluded to arraign the editor of the
paper on the same charge. AS Judge
Scott has been most bitter and vindict-
i've political enemy of Mr.. Rosewater, it
was generally believed that the action
was taken for personal spite.
The case was called for hearing to-day
and nearly the whole bar of Douglas
County and hundreds of citizens were in
court to listen to the proceedings. Evi-
dence was introduced to show that Mr..
Rosewater knew nothing ef 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
giving him severe tongue-lashlng, that
provoked some demonstration from the
auditors, the Judge started to impose
sentence 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 at first refused to grant, but Mr..
Rosewater insisted, and after much con-
fusion he said "If men who own prop
| erty, who run corporations, who employ
men in various walks of life, if these men
were held responsible for the criminal
acts of all their employees, there would
not be jails enough in America to accom-
modate them. / had rather rot in forty
jails and prisons than surrender what has
been fought for by the fathers of this Re-
public, which includes the liberty of the
press to criticise public servants-and the
courts are public servants as much as any
other classroom representatives in the
legislative halls at Lincoln or Washing
ton. / shall cheerfully submit to this or
deal. It will not hurt me. If there is
anything l am guilty of. if / have been
guilty of any contempt at all, it is the
contempt of my feliow-citizens for help
ing Colonel Scott to 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 finding of the court will be over
turned by the Supreme Court when the
case comes up for review. No court pro-
ceedings held in this city for years has
caused so many expressions of condem-
nation, directed at the court. The sem
tence was the chief topic of discussion In
fha aitu To-day