The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-03-26

Emery. Gibbs, Goodwin. Green,
Haynes, Hill. Hyde, James, Jolly.
Keith, Kerns. Kimban, of Weber. Lar
son. L., Lund, Macintosh, Mcfarland.
A1oritz, Murdoch, of Summit, Page,
Pierce, Roberts. Squires, Slower. Sire
veil, Van Horne, Varian, Wells-32.
Absent-Corfman, Crane, Eldredge,
Kiesel, Kerr, Larson. c. P, Low, of
Cache, Miller, Ryan, Sharp, Spencer,
Thatcher, Thompson, Thorne, Williams
is.
Two-thirds being needed 10 suspend
the rules. the motion was lost.
A Sympathetic Action.
Brandley. Of Sewer, offered the fol-
lowing resolution:
Resolved, That we, the members of
the constitutional convention. assem-
bled in Salt Lake city, do hereby ex-
press our sympathy with the grief
stricken people of Wyoming in the cal
amity which has come upon them
through the terrible explosion IN Red
Canyon; be it further
Resolved, That we devoEe one day S
salary to the relief of the wives and
children whose husbands and fathers
| have met death in this horrible catas-
trophe; be it further
Resolved, That the president of this
convention be and is hereby author
lied to make the necessary arrange
ment for the proper distribution OF the
moneys thus received.
Kearns jumped up hastily.
Lets make it five days pay" he
said. az move that"
There was a dead silence, during
which one could have heard "a pin
drop.
President Smith-The question comes
on the resolution as amended SO as to
make five days salaries.
Stentorian voices from all over the
! house-No secondi The amendment
was not seconded No secondi
The resolution for one days salary
was carried unanimously.
The President-GenClemen will pay
their money to the secretary.
Secretary Christensen with most re-
freshing freshness)-When we get it.
President Smith forgot the dignity CT
the chair and giggled.
! Evans in the Chair.
On motion of Greer, the convention
resolved itself into committee of the
whole to consider the bill of rights.
President Smith caused a great SEN
sation, by saying:
mfr. Evans, of Weber, will take the
chair.
else. He looked around in wonder and
| then took the chair, being loudly ap-
plauded from all points. He thanked
the president and members for the
honor and raped to order.
The Law of Libel.
The first breeze came up over the
! law of libel. Goodwin and Varian
brought up memories of a recent libel
suit, which is still fresh in the minds
of the public in their speeches. Good
win offered the following substitute
for the section on that subject:
mo law shall be passed to abridge
| or restrain the freedom of speech or
the press, but all persons shall be re-
| sponsible for the abuse of the priv.
| lege. In all trials for libel the truth
NAV be given in evidence and shall be
sufficient defense, if it shall appear to
the jury that the matter charged as
libellous is true, and was published
with good motives and for justifiable
ends. And the jury shall have the
right to determine the law and the
| facts. Upon instituting suit for dam
ages for libel, plaintiff shall file bonds
for costs or plead insolvency"
President Smith endeavored to get
into the field Of action.
Mr. Evans" he said. instead of Mr..
Chairman"
He was recognized.
II offer a substitute" he said.
He waited for a second to his motion
to adopt; but he waited in vain. No
one came to his aid: therefore he was
shut out.
In arguing on this Goodwin referred
rather bitterly to what he considered
an injustice in civil trials. He said the
real motives of newspaper were not
taken into consideration, but the law
yers would pry into the case with an
endeavor all the time to find some
thing on which to hinge charge OF
malice and so gain punitive damages.
He wanted newspaper to be fully
responsible for all 1t did and to be
made to pay all the damages it
wrought; but he objected to being sub
jected to that species of blackmail
which is too frequently practiced under
the present system of libel actions. He
said it had taken three hundred years
to evolve this system of barbarity and
it would be commendable for the con-
vention to depart from the beaten
paths and do justice to the newspapers.
Varian, in reply. said the system IN
der which libel cases are now conduc-
ted has stood the test of ages. It
was founded on right, and he believed
it should stand. The question of evil
dence in a civil suit should be left to
the legislature to determine. Once or
twice he made vague references which
showed the memory of the recent libel
suit was fresh in his mind.
Goodwin's substitute was lost, as
was also one of Kimball, of Weber, de-
signed to reach the same end. In re-
lation to that there was an amusing
incident.
KimbaIPs Poor Writing.
There are number of very bad
writer's in the convention, but in a
contest along that line Kimball could
be depended upon to win, hands down
He sent his amendment to the desk
and Evans started to read it. He went
for only five words. Then he stopped
looked intently at the writing and
shook his head.
Il give it up he said, and handed
the troublesome paper to Secretary
Christensen.
The latter took the innocent slip
with that air of evident self-possession
which is so characteristic of him. He
looked it over and started bravely to
read. He had reached the sixth word
when Kimball broke in impatiently
with:
mol no! that is not right; let me
read it,"
After reading it he saw another
chance to get in a dig at his old rival,
Evans. Looking up he said:
II wish the early writing school edu-
cation of you gentlemen hadn't been
neglected"
Goodwin moved to strike out the en-
tire paragraph and again the COM
mittee was sustained
No Bills of Attainder.
Thurman moved an amendment to
section Is. prohibiting bills of at
tainder." Wells said this provision had