Daily Kennebec journal., 1897-03-15

this Jury to add one cent OF utHiascs
more than the nominal aaMaEcs ,m,ie ,,ie
cies are not true. and also ma thi.t we
are not justified as publishing them uh-
der the belief that they were true.
Well. gentlemen. you may ,,a ma.urany NY,
time on that. You might say, II my cn-
cnts are not in any financial danger. why
should spend my time IN discussing vne
rest of the propositions: wen sen.ic-
men. the Messrs. Burleigh take some
pride In the idea that in the puDIication
of this newspaper they have proper
sense of their duty and responsibility as as
a part of the public press. A verdlct oi
nominal damages at your hands wouid
mean either that they had wickcdly pub
lished an untruth about this man, or th;tt
they had been SO careless in the manage
mcnt of their paper that they nag @ not
been alive to the sense or responsibility
that belongs to- the owners of news
paper.
4 | will not spend any time. gentlemen
upon the proposition whether TINS hfSi
count is lihellous or not. The court VIII
give you the rule of law. Certainly the
first sentence he complains OF Is pcricctiy
harmless and there Is no libel In 1t. 1le
complains first Of this sentence. Deputy
Sheriff Mentally went to work on the
case and to no little extent is responsible
for today's action on the part Of the au-
thorities." Now. that does not charge
McNally with any wrong doing. There ~
no reason why he should complain OF X.
You have heard McCone's statement Tat
he had written before he went up there q
lot of general matter in anticipation OF
what was to happen on the following DAY,
not including any facts that were 10 nap
pen. and sent 1t down by mail as these
reporters very often do and as they nave
a perfect right to do If they do not put
into it any future facts. and that he did
not do as you will see when you read
the article over
Now assuming that Nelson would be ar
rested all right and that the raid would
be successful in this part. that McCone
wrote on Thursday and sent down he IN
serted this sentence when he wrote 1t. lie
took it for granted that the raid would
be successful and sent forward what, as
he wrote it at the time, was conpIimen-
tary to Mr.. McNaily. gives him credit
for the result OF the arrest. which at the
time he supposed would undoubtedly be
successful. Well, as it turns out, the
rest of the count was n narration of this
escape on the part of Nelson. and then
hitching the two together. it gives to this
word responsible finally a strained
meaning. which they put into the writ
and which was not intended by Mr.. Nc
Cone. Now. gentlemen. ! shall spend no
time upon that. The next sentence GER
tainly is not libelious. 1T was necessary
for Sheriff Viles to have the cooperation
of Deputy Sheriff McNaliy. and so the
two officers have been hitchinG horses for
the past few days" OF course there Is no
libel in that and didn't apprehend there
is anything here that my friend will COM
plain of until they strike this sentence.
1.-The people about there were wild and
some claimed that it was a put-up job be-
tween Nelson and McNally." and that is
the only sentence there is in the first
count in this writ and the second that
they assert to be libellous. Now Mr.. Nc
Cone was there and he was an eye-wit-
ness and a hearer He says there in his
telegram. Some claimed that 1t was u
put-up job between Nelson and McNaiiy.
Now that presents two issues. First:
did they? So far VilcS says that people
did so state and and that he heard them
and that they made that statement in the
presence of McCone. McCone says he
heard people so state. believe Wllilam
statement made. Mr.. Bean says that the
statement was made by the people there
and he now denies that he himself made
this statement. although McCone said in
another article for which we are not
sudH that Bean did SO state and McCone
says upon the stand under oath. and says
also that Foster did so state although
Foster upon the stand now says that he
did not. Jennie Nelson says that she
heard people SO state, and MIR. Call says
that he heard people so state. although
there was so much excitement about the
matter that none OF them is able to give
particular names. My brother or course
will comment upon that as bearing upon
the truthfuness of these parties. Gen
ticmen. Sheriff NileS you know and when
Payson Viles goes upon this stand and
says that the statement was made and
that he heard it and cannot now recollect
the names of the people that said it,
believe that is enough for you to say
that it was said. Various witnesses have
stated that it was the general talk. Now.
why should they have so said. or. in the
first place. wasn't McCone justified in
tcIegraphing that statement to his paper.
1t is n contradiction between Bean. Fos-
ter and McCone. whatever you may have
to say about the testimony of Call and
Jennie Nelson. The testimony of Payson
Niles alone is enough to warrant you in
saying that the people there who heard
the language and saw the acts which cam
not be produced in testimony. that they
did say as McCone telegraphed. that that
was their impression at the time that
this was put-up job between the two.
Now. there are two uefcnceS to that. We
say. first unhesitatinEly. that it is true.
We say in the next place that We had n
right to believe it true. that is, that what
MIR. McCone saw and what he heard was
enough to justify him in saying that he
had probable cause to believe it to be
true. Now. probable cause means such q.
state Of facts or such reliable inforna-
ton as would justify any prudent and
cautious man in having in his mind Il
high degree of suspicion that it was true,
and as applied to Il public officer. the re-
porter has a right TO insert in a news
paper n supposed fact relating to the offici-
al conduct of that officer that he would
not have n right to insert as against a
private individual. Society demands that
privilege on the part of the great press.
that it may criticise the acts Of public
officers, and the rule of law which will
be given you by the court will say that
the press has that right. Now, l win
argue the two propositions together. |
submit that the testimony of George Nc
Nally upon this stand alone is enough to
satisfy this jury that that escape was
corrupt. Tho letter of George r. Nc
Nally. which | thank the other side for
putting into this case ought to be enough
to satisfy you. Writing to this paper he
discloseS the real weakness under which
he was suffering at that time, and that
| was the morbid jealousy of Mr.. Viles. He
dropped it out and then retracted it and
then practically admitted it in the open
ing sentence in that letter. when he says
that the Somerset county officers had
hired McCone to slander him and to
build up their reputation at the expense
OF his own. That discloses the real truth
as to why he was either hired or negli-
gently and wickedly allowed that man to
escape. McNally wanted the credit of
the capture of Nelson himself. He was
hurt because when Viles came there, al
though he came on his invitation. be-
cause Viles seemed to assume authority
and seemed to be accorded confidence by
| his ncighbors who GistruSted McNally,
and you can understand now. gentlemen,
| in the light of his admitted bad moral
character why they distrusted McNally.
McNally. l say, was morbidly jealous Of
| Viles and chagrined at the position in
;nl, hi no.