Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-11-25
CRANA)RD'S HOG CASE
Crawford, Of Newburg. Sues the
Clays For Defamation Of
Character.
The Clays Once Charged craw-
ford With Having Stolen
Their Hogs.
Grand Jury Failed to Indict and
Suits Follow--More
Back OF 1t.
snecial to Times Republican.


Newton, Nov. 25.-Our nelghbor Powe
shiek is not alone in sensational suits
| Recently and within day or two there
| have been begun in the district court OF
Jasper county three suits in which B. r
Crawford, of Newburg, is plaintiff. ant
| the Clays, Isaiah Clay and his sons Hi
ram and Gregg, are defendants. Craw-
ford thinks he has been damaged in
/ the sum of $4,000.
Crawford sues Hiram Clay for $1,000
alleging as cause of action:
| First-That defendant said of plaintiff
| "He stole four hogs belonging to me
and shipped them to Marshalltown anG
sold them. He is thief and can prove
If, and / am going to send him over the
road for it,
Second-That defendant said Of plain
| tiff, He stole some hogs of us and
| shipped them to Marshalltown. He has
been stealing hogs of us right along. He
! ia thief and every one in the country
Will soon find it out, as we are going to
arrest him and prosecute him.
For this Crawford wants $4,000.
Suit No. is against Isaiah Clay
Plaintiff says that defendant said OF
| him:
First-"Crawford is thief. He stole
| those hogs. Has been stealing hogs
right along from us. We have caught
kim at it and now we are going to pros
| ecute him.
| Second-That defendant told farmers
not to sell stock to plaintiff, that he had
been stealing from them and would dc
| SO again.
For this Crawford wants $4,000.
| Suit No. is against Isaiah Clay, Hi
ram Clay and Gregg Clay. In this he
alleges conspiracy to ruin him. Count
says that defendants conspired to drive
him out Of business; that they made
harsh and violent threats; that they said
he could not be trusted. and that they
| had agreed to lay for him and drive him
| out of business; that they told PLAINTIFF
| customers that he would cheat them In
weights. This, he thinks, injured him
| 81 600 worth.
| Count 2 says they conspired to cause
his arrest for the larceny Of four hogs
and that they have conspired to procure
| an Indictment; that in order to get a
| case against plaintiff they entrapped
him into shipping some of Clay's hogs tc
| Marshalltown, where he sold them in ig-
norance of the fact that said hogs be-
| longed to Clay; that this caused him
great distress and worry and made his
| wife sick and he thinks he ought to
| have $1,000 for this.
Count says they conspired to pro-
cure the publication Of a libelous article
in the Times Republican and then made
great efforts to bring said publication
that because OF this banks refused to
pay his checks. and this hurt him $1,000
worth.
Count says that defendants drove
thru the country and used the telephone
| to inform plaintiffs patrons that they
| had got him bound over to the grand
! jury and not to trust him with any more
stock and that this hurt him $500 worth.
So he asks for $4,000 actual and $4,000
exemplary damages.
The Clays are an old family in this
county They are all honest. Godfearing
men and not one of them has ever had
| his integrity called into question
The Clays will attempt to prove up
Crawford's character by reciting the
| following incident the verify Of which
they vouch for, that, about
three years Crawford was the
only buyer at Newburg Hiram
Clay concluded to go inc the business.
His relations with Crawford We're en-
tirely friendly. He soon found that there
/ n h 10 he
| tween the weights at Newburg and the
weights in Chicago and he lost as much
as 500 on a single car In shrinkage. All
the buyers used the railroad scales. The
scales were tested and found correct.
Clay secreted himself under the scales
| just before weighing some cattle and
caught Crawford red-handed, just after
he had substituted false weights for
| true ones. When confronted he con-
| fessed and produced in addition 20 the
| weights that caused Clay's loss, another
set of false weights that he had pro-
| cured for use when he weighed his own
stuff.
| The incident caused excitement in the
| little village of Newburg at the time
and it became known to all the farmers
| who shipped to that point and the re-
suit was that many farmers were afraid
| to sell to Crawford and his business
| fell off. Hiram Clay was naturally very
| indignant. He was determined to pros
ecute Crawford, but the neighbors in
/ terceded out of sympathy for Craw-
| fords wife and her family. Even Clay
| father. Isaiah Clay, defendant in two of
| these SANDER suits begged his son to be
| lenient and not to prosecute saying to
| his son Hiram, Crawford is an gnor-
ant fellow and didn't know any bet
| ter, and / will guarantee he will not do
anything like this again. So it was
dropped and Crawford paid Clay 5000 to
compensate him for his losses and both
sets of false weights We're given up and
| broken on the railway rails by C. l..
| Roberts, in the present of about twen-
| ty witnesses.
| Soon after that Clay missed some
| hogs. How they got away he could not
| imagine. He missed them soon after
| Crawford shipped out. This happened
three times. Last May, having hogs in
| the yard and knowing that Crawford
was about to ship, he says he carefully
| counted his hogs and saw that the gates
| We're securely wired. After Crawford s
| train pulled out he counted again and
missed the four hogs bought of McCarl.
| He Immediately sent Gregg and Nc
| Carts man to Marshalltown and found
the hogs in Britain & Co.'S yards.
With this evidence he confronted
Crawford, but Crawford made light of
it and paid him for the hogs claiming