Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-03-15

the same. McCone made that statement
70 TX the escape sharply upon Mentally.
Mny, they all say that he was not out
doors all of thes time. He was In the
house. and SO was Nelson, and they say
Nelson IN the house asked viles to go out
with him. and Niles put him off for a
nc ea wh J., The whole evidence is that
ne was IN the house when he asked to
80 out behind the barn. The article then
goes on 70 speak of the escape and the
hnots that Were heard. and saws: sThe
people about there were wild. and some
som ana Ms wsa i pnt1uR Job between Mel.
ana see what did occur there. You have
nelru me Witnesses. They have called
beah. cant Foster. .viles. Mrs. Nelson
y an, others 70 testify. We find that Viles,
WIS pnt-up job, he didn't know who.
roster ! think. Says she heard n some-
Where there. Bean says he heard it
S T,1 there l tried to find out who
10 ma OUT Now McNally had written a
letter to the Journal on the 18th, saying
what he did in it. and they had turned
t ina. letter over to McCone. who then
round out that this man would DENY this
cnarge II he had spunk enough to attack
the Kennebec Journal, and / know ii is
dangerous operationl Gentlemen of the
jury, have felt 1t every minute in this
court mousse ! have been depressed in
my Efforts to have this man put right be-
Tore the community. And | knew when
commenced this action what j had TO
contend with. ! knew that every promi-
neht onclai in this State would be inter-
ested from the State prison to the SEN
ate, and from Governor in action to Gov
ernors out. | knew that this press could
reach every reporter hi Maine. / knew
,nelr power, and ! say to you. gentlemen
stand up in this case for this poor man
ana give him "a fair trial on our side
Notwithstanding the strength and the in
1uenee of this State paper
This man wrote them "A letter One of
the definitions of libel given by our stat
ute is anything that tends to provoke IL
man to wrath" And they may say that
, rn.h 'e ta sb SHOWS wrath. and he had
else but wrote directly to the newspaper
in his wrath. if you want to have ii that
way McCone. as | say. had seen this
letter: because they say they turned it
over to him. knowing nothing about the
matter themselves. What did McCone
DO? He gave us another Dose more par
ucular. more definite. more certain
say to you that this article on the 22d of
October is proof absolute. with no uncer-
tain sound. that this man McCone after
this letter meant to carry out his spite
against this man. to Willy him. to tear
and the editor of the paper at the head
of that article says further facts" not
rumors. not stories. McCone wrote what
he called facts. the paper adopts them
anu III VllelF nedullneS lney say to the
world. in big letters: Here are '.Further
facts relative to that now famous affair"
Now this article was written. Oct 81 and
published on the I'D right away after the
plairtiff.s letter was sent to the Journal.
and instead of giving this poor man Il
chance of being heard by the public by
the publication of his letter. they read it
and pass il to McCone and then McCone
publishes further facts" about this. He
had only published up to that time that
some people said it was Il put-up job
without calling any names. you remem-
Der. Who said? Now IN order to satisfy
the community beyond doubt. he gets out
another article and names three respect
able men in that community WAC said So
and then they put two of them on the
stand; the third. Mr.. Hunter. was sworn
but after they got through with the two
men who said McCone had lied. that they
hadn't said SO. they failed to call Hunter
Now in order to settle this thing. McCone
writes this article of the I'D facts. not
reports And you will remember that he
had not seen. as he stated on the stand.
these parties between the 18th and the
2lst. the date of his article. So that all
he knew about what Bean. Foster and
Hunter would say he hadn't learned new
ly. but ii was the same old story about
some people saying 1t was put-up job.
Now in order to settle this poor plaintiff
he publis hes the names of those who said
it. He says: Mr. Bean afterward stated
to the journal that he believed it was IA
put-up job. Now what did Bean say?
The plaintiff saw this statement that
Bean said it. and he writes TO Bean.
Wasn't thFt natural? Anything wrong
about that? He was charged openly with
Il crime and the paper had furnished the
Eame of man who had charged him
with il. He states in his letter what he
me whether or not you made that state
ment to the Journal reporter. If so. by
what authority" That is. if he said it,
why did he say so? Mr.. Bean replies BY
ls.,t 1,
said so. TT is a gross mistake" he says:
| don't know what he means by gross
| suppose he means il lie. And he is mere
upon the stand. their own witness. and
looking McCone in the face. he says ::
You have told gross falsehood. MY
brother almost Wcpt yesterday. when n"
said this man McCone had reformed. He
did weep. and thought If | hadn't been
here he would have gone right over ana
.embr.a ced him. McCone says in the ar
ticle that Mr.. Foster said it was put-up
lob. Foster says he didn [. But tnelr
witness has reformed and Foster never
had an opportunity to do so. because ne
had never been convicted. but ought TO
be perhaps And the argument Is that
because Il man has been convicted anu
reformed he is Il good deal better thsifl
the man who hasn't been convicted ana
reformed because the latter hasn't had
a chance to reform. McNally has never
been convicted and never hau an oppor-
tunity to reform. Foster tells you that
replied and he further says that it Is
not true that he said il was a put-up JoD.
You want to take this in connection with
the fact that this man McCone had SAID
i'm the first place that the people said, or
somebody said. that it was IL put-up joD'
in connection with the fact that McCone
had seen this letter from McNally IN
which he attempted to protect his repu-
trtion and then you want to remember
that this article was written to Kill that
letter to show perhaps to his employers
that the letter was not true. ana not only
that ii was said by somebody up there.
but to tell them who said it. Then he
says that Mr.. Alpheus Hunter was pres
ent ON CHS occasion. Why d1dn tney
mn him on and if he was? They
stood him up in this loNg line. They say:
.AIpheus Eunter was of the same opn-
ion as the others regarding the escape
of Nelson. and he had no scrup!es
against saying So" McCone says: oh
| haven't anything against this man.
am sorry. | like him. or words to that
effect Il have nothing against him. but
| am compelled to say that three men
said that they thought 1t was a put-up
lob. | am compelled to say that That
makes the libel all the more vicious, for
| if YOU go into a community and say:
| Here is a man do not want to hurt
| but he is a thief" do you not make II
more vicious than you would If you had
| said He is my enemy and he is a thief
| These defendants would have this whole
| community believe that they were in love
with This man. but the truth compelled