Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-09-24
THE TRANSCRIPT WINS.
,1Trabby's Libel Suit Is Decided
The jury Gives averdict
.=ss Tor Defendant. l
HE JUDGES CHARGE IN FULL.
"A Long. Legal Fight Reaches
an End in the District
Court.

II The suit of Samuel Trebby against
the. Transcript fpr $lO.OtN damages
for libel has been decided by Jury
ilr favor III the defendant. The YER
dict was returned Wednesday noon.
after the Jury had been out less than
an hour. 5,i NM
Tie case grew out Of the publt-
cation III the Transcript in December
1894, of a resolution passed Ivy he
city council. .:5 "A ..sg. zs., u
J The resolution was one crittctstng
/. the conduct Of Sa nl,lrl Trebby in be-
ing a party to the publication OF
kilograms III the st. Paul Globe and
Call concerning a suit between ireb-
by and H. b. Tnttle. us treasurer Of
the city, and the Water Power COM
pany. The kilograms gave the i'm
preston that $25,O0O was involved
and that the supreme court had de-
,cided the bonds illegal. n saa.s,
The resolu ton recited that the
bonds had been Cancelled, that the
supreme court had made no decision,
and that the case was Of practically
no Importance. The resolution
characterized ;rret'by in q way he
evidently did not like. ,....;
Suit was begun some time later by
Trebby against the Transcript tor
$lO, 900, and one trial was had In
1896. at when time tha jury disa.
greed. At the former trial the tessi-
mony and his attorneys placed
Trebby in the light Of public bene-
factor In conducting this suit
against the treasurer and Water
Power company, as for the purpose
OF saving the people from paying I'M
necessary taxes. In this case it de-
veloped that while Trebby allowed
the suit to drag for years without
prosecution he was receiving hun
dreds of dollars, aud that. he only
pushed tie suit after the bonds had
been cancelled and no further in
come was possible to him by pro-
longing the litigation. =. .'|.'.' q. -
There was not much evidence In
the case, the only material evidence
being given by City Clerk Brown re-
garding the passage IF the reseln7,
zion, by W. M. Fuller, Of the Tran
script. regarding Its publication, and
Samuel Trebby concerning his con-
nection with the original suit. and
furnishing the item that appeared in
the st. Paul papers. 1t was mostlv
a legal battle, and much Of the time
was taken UP with argument before
the Judge. ... a..&... 49, &.<,:s@@@ 4
The case was conducted by George
w. Stewart ana D. T. Calhoun. both
OF St. Cloud. for the plaintiff and
Blanchard & Ltnobergh.
for the defendant. Mr.. Calhoun
made the plea before the jury for the
plaintiff, and Mr.. &. A.>-l-indbergh
made the plea for the defense. The
law regarding libel is OF considerable
public interest. and we therefore
publish the charge made by the Judge
to the jury. 1t was az follows. 81
OF THE JURY: ~.
The plaintiff brings this action to
recover damages for the publication
OF an alleged lioelous article In the
Little Falls Transcript Of and con-
corning the plaintiff. A copy of the
alleged libel is set forth in the COM
plant and has been read In your
and may be read by you In
the consideration Of the questions In.
vOlved herein. @..>s>
The defendant admits the publica-
ton of the article in question, SO
that the first and Important ques-
ton for you to determine is whether
or not the article published was
libelous. To determine this Issue
YOU must answer two questtOns:
First. Was the article in question
In other words did It,
reflect iniuriously upon the character
or conduct of the plaintiff?
Second. II the article was defam-
atory, " as 1t true or false? :..s}.
Libel considered as a basis OF q
civil action, may be: defined to be q
malicious publication In printing or
writing, imputing to another, some
thing which has q tendency to injure
his reputation, to disgrace or de-
grade him in society, or hold him up
Co hatred, contempt, or ridlcule.
II you find from an inspection OF
the article, and q careful considera-
ton Of the same, that the puhlica-
ton OF the article tended to injure
the plaintiffs reputation, to dis
grace or degrade him In society. or
hold him up to hatred. contempt or
riaicule, then I charge You that such
words would be deiamatory, but Il
the publication Of the article would
nor tend to injure the plaintiffs
As- 49, aloOrArn Or DEGRADE