Rock Island Argus., 1901-06-06
BASIS OF RULING
That on Which Miss Eddy Won
in the Great Libel
Suit.
COURT INsTRUOTs THE JURY
Which Immediately Returns Its
Verdict--Fa allure to Make
Out Case.
COURT INsTRUoTs THE JURY


Judge Bell late yesterday afternoon,
instructing the jury to find for the de-
fendant in the Woodbury. Eddy $3.50, :
600 damage suit for libel, simply
shows that the p!aintiiT has not made
out case against the founder IF
Christian Science. Frederick w. Pea
body. counsel for the plaintiff. stated
that il was his intention to 90 to the
supreme court with his numerous eX-
ceptions and seek reversal of the
decision of tho lowe court. The at
torneys for Mrs. Eddy, the defendant,
were happy. They had established
the fact for all present purposes that
The words of the "Babylo Dish woman"
message were purely impers nal and
used in description of type of sin.
Shortly before the lunch hour the
prosecution rested. Tne defense i'm
mediately made two motions: Eirst,
to strike out the two counts concern
ing publication in the Christian
Science journal and the Christian Sci
ence Sentinel; second, that the court
order verdict for the defendant.
The Ruling.
Judge Bell said: al have examined
this alleged libel with great care. /
think the plaintiff has sustained her
case in the matter of publication in
the society periodicals. The plaintiiT
admits that no damages can be recov-
cred because of the reading in the
church, the proof not being sufficient.
There is evidence that the message as
printed in the Christian Science Jour
nal and Christian Science Sentinel was
seen by at least one person who uu-
derstood that it referred to the plain
tiff. The number of persons is of
course of Importance only in consid-
ering the extent of injury. The thing
in this case that has Lrou bled me mos t
has been whether the defendant meant
to refer to the plaintiff. The former
relations of the women al or about
the time of the communication from
the church are not admissible to sus-
tain the libel. At the time of the
alleged libel Mrs. Wood bury had pub
lished attacks on Mrs. Eddy and her
book; those are unimportant unless
they came to the attention of the de-
fendsnt. Therefore it appears to the
court that there is no ground for this
suit unless something can be found
in the very libel itself. Taking the
libel itself, l see nothing which in
any fair way may be said TO indicat G
the plaintiff in the first part thereof
The words woman drunk with the
blood of the saints might bc intended
to be libelous, but they do not iden-
tify. Tie only thing that could
identify would be the reference TO
widow and 'widowhood Mrs.
Wood bury was in fsct widow. But
| have come to the conclusion that
even those words do not identify.
The plaintiff has not made out her
case"
The Verdict.
The Jury was called into the court
room and under direction of Judge
Bell the u jurors rendered verdict
for the defendant without single
witness having been called for the de-
fense by Messrs. Elder, Bartlett and
Morse.
There arc six other libel suits
brought by Mrs. Woodbury. against
other Christian Scientists than Mrs.
Eddy which are based on the same
message of Mrs. Eddy TO her church
ana the puDllcaJlOn ana ulsbeInlndIlou
of it. They are actions to recover
100000 from the First Church of
Christ, Scientist; $780, from Ira
O. Knapp, William Il. johnson,
Joseph Armstrong and Stephen
Chase collectively as directors of the
church; $4,000 from Septimus j.
Hanna, S25 OOO from William p. Nc
Kenzie, Thomas w. Hatten and trus-
tees of the publication society of the
church; $25. 900 from John w. Reeder,
t25. 600 from Joseph Armstrong. as
business manager of the Christian
Science journal.
II the verdict ordered by the lower
court is permitted 10 stand by the
supreme court upon appeal it would
appear to be unnecessary TO bring any
of the above mentioned suits to trial.