Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-04-28
OF CHARGE
Jury conVicts Or. A. n. Mccand
less of Slandering w. 3.
Mcintyre.
DAMAGES AGAINST PLAINTIFF
New Joke Worked on Him - Amusing
Trial at Broadway
Church.

According TO the verdict Of the jury
in the mock trial of the Islander suit for
800 damages, at Broadway Presby-
terrain church last evening, DR.. A. H.
McCandless. the defendant, is guilty of
the charge, but the damages of $4,000
were assessed against the plaintiff, w.
B. Mcintyre.
Fl. A Weld presided over the court
as judge. Joseph McCrory served as
sheriff, with G.. c. Blakeslee as clerk.
The court was formally opened with
the sheriffs announcement. Some time
was occupied with pleas. applications
and motions. J. c. Thomson was call
ed and entered a plea of not guilty TO
a charge of horse stealing. He was
also made defendant in a suit for debt.
supposed 10 be brought by the Ladies'
Aid society of the church. After dis
posing of preliminary business, the
court took up the regular docket, the
case being entitled Mcintyre VS.. Nc
Candless. tTespass.'
II. Z. Van Duser appeared for the
plaintiff, and William NJ. Reck for the
defendant. The proceedings were all
correct according to the usual court
practice. the only change being in the
oaths. in which the provision was add
ed that the truth was to be told las far
as the occasion requires" The attor-
neys closely questioned the jurors call
ed. and several were excused before
the II were selected. The jury was
composed of Phil Mitchell. foreman:
Sam Taylor. A. u. Walker. Jasper
Sievers. Dan Montgomery. George
Schneider, DR. Will Carl, Elmer Cam
eron, Wyman Beardsley. Robert Nc
Murtrie. r. w. Scott and w. S. Parks.
Charge Made at Banquet
In the formal declaration of the
plaintiff it was set forth that the de-
PENDANT had at the Y. NJ. c. A. banquet
about April l made slanderous remarks
about the jokes of the plaintiff Mr..
Mcintyre. it was stated, is an apostle
of sunshine and a jokemaker. Some of
the remarks which DR.. McCandless was
alleged to have made were: His jokes
are old enough to vote They have
whiskers," Mac has evidently been
reading the almanacs again-his Jokes
have a patent medicine flavor" He
sits up nights studying L. f. Vests
joke book" These remarks. it was
charged, were made maliciously, and
the result was that Mr.. Mcintyre had
lost a large part of his livelihood in the
way of free tickets to the theatres. ban
quets and entertainments. II was also
charged that he had suffered mentally
and physically. The defense was that
these remarks were true. that Mr.. Nc
lntyre's jokes were more characterized
by age and responsibility than by origi-
nality. II was charged that the jokes
were largely taken from the ancient
writings of the Egyptians and Aztecs,
and that many of them were told by
the workmen when erecting the ancient
Chinese wall. 1t was held that the re-
marks were intended to be for the ben
eft of Mr.. Mcintyre, and to educate the
people of Rock Island TO discriminate
in jokes
Witnesses Tell of Incident.
+. B. McKown was the first witness.
He told of having heard Dr. McCand-
less make the remarks charged in the
declaration He said that the remarks
were occasioned by the statement of
the program at the banquet that Mr.
Mcintyre was to tell an original
story" II. b. Hayden corroborated the
testimony of Mr.. McKown. In cross
examination Mr.. Hayden admitted that
Mr.. McIntyre's membership on the
board had resulted in intimate rela-
lions between himself and the plain
tiff. and admitted that Mr.. Mcintyre
often repeated his jokes A D. Sperry
ole toll Of u
quet. In crOss-examination Mr.. Sper-
ry said he did not know what ''malic-
ious Islander" means. and could not ex-
plain other statements of his testi-
mony.
Then the plaintiff himself was put on
the stand. He demonstrated that in
spite of remarks to the contrary he is
possessed of original wit and his tes-
timony kept the audience in continual
laughter. He said his insurance bust
ness had been merely incidentaI-that
his business in reality was to make
Jokes. and be an apostle OF sunshine
He claimed his business had been
ruined by DR. McCandless' remarks
He said he had suffered physically and
was not the same man he had been be
fore. His nerve. he said. was particu
arly affected. In discrimination he
admitted that he studied the almanacs.
but claimed only to learn the signs of
he zodiac. not to read the jokes. He
said he had read one almanac in for
ner years. but not since DR. Watts had
declared the medicine il advertised
contained "a per cent alcohol He said
le had studied the dead languages, but
lot for the purpose Of reading the
okes. He admitted having told the
Joke. It's long lane with no tin can.
| number Of times.
No Malice. Says Defendant
Here the plaintiffs case was closed.
The first witness for the defense was
)r. McCandless himself. He said his
lame was a Hennery Peck McCand
ess.T and called his business "a daily
Erind" and something OF a pull He