The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-01-19
LIAR PAYS FOR HIS GUILT.
THE WORLD UsT GIVE MIR. Trap
S0,25O FOR LIBELLING HIM.
He IL the Mcknno Juror whom the Boss
Rev Journal Accused OF Attempting 90

He IL the Mcknu Juror whom the Boss
Rev Journal Accused OF Attempting TO
Bribe some OF Hts Fellows on the Jury
In the Interc-t ct the Gravssena Bose.
"Soicnt menddecs luere poonns mdlefcti." wrote
PhGdrus, which. being translated, is. Liars
generally pay the penalty OF their guilt" or
course, there are liars anu liars. and Just an
ordinary liar may now and then escape. but
when II real boss star liar gets up before a jury
there's mighty little help for him. as was seen
IN Saturday In Brooklyn, when the high school
department of the new journalism was charged
S0.@5O for lying about Joseph A. Trap, who
was one OF the Jurors In the McKane case. The
people generally npplauded. The friends of Mr..
Trapp congratulated him, aud Supreme Court
Justice Keogh. who had tried the case, over
ruled a motion for a new trial.
Mr.. Traps case occupied the court for more
than a week. The readers OF TuE SuN will re-
member the intense interest that thoro was
everywhere when John Y. McKane was on trial.
All of the papers devoted u great deal OF space
to telling the details OF the case. This seemed
TO call for All extraordinary effort on the part Of
the new Journalism, OF which tho World was
then tho only exponent, the primary depart
ment not having beon established. All tho
papers printed tho facts. Then 1t was impossi.
bic to get anything exclusive" by sticking to
the facts. 50 tho lie was invented. the penalty
Of which has just been fixed. A brooklyn papcr
had printed n story to the effect that there wero
rumors that some Of McKane's friends
were trying. or had tried. to tnmper with tho
Jury 10 that the conviction of the GrAvesend
boss would bc out of the question. This Brook
Ign story was Of the vagucst kind. No names
were mentioned, and 81 far rs anybody could
zee there was no foundation for II. The Jurors
had been selected with tho greatest care. and
under tho direction Of Justice Bartlett. who was
taken to make certain that nobody had II chance
to tamrer with them. So complete wcrs these
That nobody would believe a story that there
had been any attempted tamperihg from tho
ou',id" and the iden of making IL AN, inside Job
was conceived and Trnpp. wa picked out as the
hest man to pat II on, probably because he had
held II city office, aud, city officials being used to
abuse, would be less likely To kick.
Mr.. Trapp was - thoroughly respectable citi-
zen. lie had sworn whsn he was being exam
in,d for tHc place Of Juror That he did not know
diced. Then lie had taken All oath to decide the
case truly on the evidence: He voted for Nc
IL was n day or 80 afterward that the World
came ont with the new Journalist story. 1t &C
jury by committing perjury. and after he got
there OF working among The inrymen to
FsS rTsnaS i n i GSfass' a MR. big rr"P rpll ~o of
bills to spend in Gribing his fellow
put in to make the story read right. The TACT
that Mr.. Trapp Lad voted to convict Mckane.
Il might be thought. would be- n stumbling
block to tho success nt nny such story. but IL
didn't bother the boss liars a bit. They had
MIR. Trapp taking to the foreman OF the jury,
and the foreman accusing him of corruption
and threatening to expose him to Justice Bart
lett unless he voted right. Then they had Mr..
Trnpp voting right uHder this threat. All this
was healed up in new journalist style and
printed on the first page.
MIR. Traps answer to tho lie was 80 prompt
aud emphatic thai II took the liars breath away.
1t was u suit Cor 100000 damages for ma
licious libel. There was 10 way for the World
To squirm out OF the consequences. and when
the case came up for trial early this month IL
tried to Justify the lie. 1t spent three days try
Ing to break down Mr.. Trapp's reputation. and
didn't succeed. The jury In the Ease was out
four hours and returned the verdict as stated
above.
Liars generally pay the penalty of their
guilt"