The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-10
HERALD'S OBSCENE COLUMN
ITS TIOLLTfON or THE Law Off
CIALLY REGARDED As SERIOUS


WAsHfSGToN. Aug. 81 At the Post Office De-
partment to-day much interest was shown in
the details Of the departments consider ration
OF the case Of the Nr,r Fork HT'uhs person
ais" as set forth in THE SuN to-day. What
action, If any. the department will take has
not been determined. but no stone will appa-
renty be left uuturned 20 bring the proprietor
Of the guilty rauer 10 task. One official uf tho
Department took THE St'N severely to task for
publishing ia" inrts In the cnse.
THE HcrdH.' he said. lis great moral
agent. engaged in the highly commendable
work Of fostering tn" matrimonial industry
1t prints the advertisements Of young men
seeking matrimony and also those Of young
ladies' having II similar object in view To ac-
commOdatr thOS" who meet through this
correspOndrnrn IL prints the ndvprtisemen ts OF
parties who rent rooms to such couples. IL
also prints In the same column the advertise
menis OF the detectives who make n speciality
OF shadowing married persons. with view OF
securing evidence to bc used in cases OF
divorce. and then those Of lawyers who obtain
tho divorces. 81 that two loving people
can he married. live together and he
divorced without rcnding anything outside the
HtrdHS personal columns"
This view Of the case. however. is merely n
fanciful one. a. iii" Hprdh'S violation Of The law
Is officially regarded as n very serious matter
Indeed. II IL no. mp"ssIbI" that Mr.. Bennett
can he COMPELLED to spend n term in Sing sing,
The highest courts have decided that such
personals" as appear in the H"dh are lewd.
lascivious and obscene. and one newspaper
proprietor a. INSCRIPTIONS as MIR. Bennett.
not as wealthy. Joseph Il. Dunlap OF the
Chicago D,SputrL. who conducted large
and tiourshing newspaper III chic ago. was sen
to Joliet in lS!hi for insist ~. in d"iilnco 81
the law. on publishing personals when read as
though they had been "tlpp"d IF IN the iir"t0L
This statement II his cas-" l. taken from the
official files OF the Post UNl"' Department:
Dunlop wa tho publisher of The otlica or
gan Of Chicago and COCK couHb A. such he
obtained the official ADVERTISING and incurred
the enmity Of that muInVuIeut trio, stone.
Lawson ana kohsaat. These mon. See
ing that their successful rival. Duniu2.
had laid himself liable To- the law
by maintaining an indecent personal
column patterned after that OF H,'ud, opened a
crusade and. assisted by til" Auti-Nic" society.
q civic federation" Of which Lyman J. Gage
was president procured his Indictment Tor
sending obscene lewd and IasCivious matter
through the mails Thirty-,wo counts were in
the indictment found against Dunlop. and on
six of them he was prosecuted. The lndct-
ment stated that the advertisements were Of
toosindecent a character to be included in it.
county to save him and boosted that he
could not be convicted. but the prosecutors
were too shrewd to bring the case before a
County Judge and took tito the Federal Court.
the Judge Of Mhichhappencd to be Judge Cross
cup. All the arts of an able criminal lawyer
were employed to save Dunlop. Dcpraved
standards Of morality were hrld w to the Jury
rs reasons for lenicnry. but the jury found
that the UeSpdtrh a lewd and indecent
Publication and its proprietor guilty Of crime |
In arguing for n reversal Of Judgment and
failing that. for new trial. the LAWYER pointed
ont that other papers. including the New York
Hrdd. had been for years engaged IN similar
practices He referred ESPECIALLY to the
Chicago papers. and said that the inn
nunity granted them in tn" publication
oil personals for 81 many years ma,!e
II sort of common law rs far as
Chicago was concerned In summing up
the case Judge Grosscup said: The jury. In
my mind. rightly found that these papers were
indecent and obscene. They were not simply
tnsulferabe to good taste and good morals
they were clearly and vilclv criminal" He
also said: 'rhe door can hc'shut against often
sive servants offensive visitors. and offensive
literature but the hand OF mail service ppne-
tratss every chamber Of the household. 1t is
no light obligation to see that that hand Is
always clean"
The trial developed that oil scene matter did
not mean matter obviously oh 'cene in ITSELF
but matter which was calculated to excite
lewd and ascivious thoughts in the readers
such us the Herdhrs famous Personals"
Judge Grosscup said. in his charge to the jury
Now what are obscene. IasrivIous. lewd or
indecent publications IL largely n question OF
your own conscience and your own opinion
but 1t must come. before II can he said OF such
literature or publication. it must come to this
point that it must be calculated, with the ordi-
nary reader. TO dcprave his morals or to lead
to impure PURPOSES
Tho jury having found him guilty. Judge
Grosscup sentenced Dunlop to two years in
the Joliet penot"n'ary and to pay a fine OF
50 900. Appeal was taken to the Court Of An
peals and thence to the United States Supreme
Court. both sustaining tn" lower court and
Dunlop was sent 10 tho penitentary. After a
year mis- friends brought great pressure to
bear upon President Mckinley for his pardon
and II seemed ms though the President would
grant it, but Kohsaa, camc to Washington
and represented to his friend. the President,
that Dunlop's pardon would he n rerversion Of
justice. and he was allowed to serve ont his
time
Here was a wealthy and influential new spaper
proprietor who served n prison sentence for
publishing exactly similar advertisements to
those OF the New York HTnM He had been
warned regarding these advertisements and
had instructed his business manager to exer-
else great care in taking In such advertise
ments. They formed large part and the
highest paid part. OF the advertise
ments Of the Dispatch. as they do OF
those OF the Hcrdh, As a sample Of like
ness existing between the personals in the
Dispatch and those in the HprdM. the following
are taken from marked copy OF the Uispatch
dated October 2i 1885 on file with the pnpers
In tho case in the postoflce Department. and
others from the Her0ri Of last sunday:
No. |. DiSpdtCi, p'rs ,nal
Ar"hned young German lady, blonde 20 wishes
the acquaintance Of refined gentleman. 2l2 Est
Chicago avenue. first floor. HAT "a.
From the HP,0Id
Arehned, af"ctionato German girl would appre.
ciate meeting kind gentleman, object Iuatrimony
Vester. 3Of Hsr1id.
No. >. from the DiSpdtrt
PERsoN'L - Tall, handsome lady. magnificent
form. wishes to meet refined gentleman. 2ulp
siAte street first fiat left
ErnD hn