Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-10-30
SUPREME COURT AGAINST HIM
IN LIBEL CASE.
KNOCKED A COAL COMPANY
Said in Campaign That Firm Had
Fuel in Famine But Would Not
Sell 1t Even Where Sickness and
Suffering Prevaied-Free Press
Must Prove Charges.

Mayor David S. Rose will have to
stand trial in me SANDER and libel
damage suit brought against him by
the Gross Coal Co. of Milwaukee for
charges which he made and reiterated
against the company in the campaign
of 1904, concerning the coal famine.
The supreme court, in an opinion
written by Justice Winslow, sustains
the order of the Milwaukee court
overruling the defendants demurrer
to the complaint. The mayor, in the
heat of political campaign, charged
in a certain speech in the Davidson
theater that the company had coal in
the time of famine, that it charged
SIS ton for it and promised to de-
liver it on orders when certificates
Of physicians were presented showing
that the coal was needed to prevent
fatal termination of sickness and suf-
fering, or words to that effect, but
that the company refused to deliver
the coal upon such orders. The at
torneys for the company called upon
the mayor and gave him an oppor-
tunity to retract the statements, but
he wrote and had published a letter
reiterating the statements and declar-
ing his willingness and ability to
prove them in court, and ending with
the words, "fre away" This suit
was brought, demanding $4,000 for
sander and an equivalent amount for
libel. The defendant mayor de-
INJURED to the complaint; he was
overruled and took an appeal to the
supreme court, upon which the court
decides against him.
Chance to Prove Charges.
In the libel action brought by ex-
Governor Scofeld against the Mil
waukee Free Press, claiming damages
by reason of published statements
which the Oconto man alleges made
him out as the distributing agent for
the late Philetus Sawyer in an al
legged deal to buy up a state legisla-
ture the court decided that the case
must go to trial and the publishers
will have an opportunity to prove
their statements.
Can't Tax Phone Poles.
The Wisconsin Telephone Co. is
immune from any affect of an ordi-
nance passed by the Milwaukee com
mon council which required a license
fee of 81 for each of the company's
poles set within the city limits on the
city streets. AS the company had
$500 poles, it meant virtually a tax
of $4,000. The company brought in
junction proceedings to restrain the
city from enforcing the ordinance
and the city won in the lower court.
The city answered the companys in
functional complaint to this answer
the company demurred and the de-
murrer was overruled. The company
appealed from the order overruling
the demurrer to the answer to the
complaint. The opinion is written
by Justice Kerwin The question
hinged upon whether the license ordi-
nance was an exercise of police
powers over the streets, or was an at
tempt to collect a tax for purposes
of revenue. The company operates
under state fanchise, and the court
held that the license fee was so large
as to be plainly for purposes of reve-
nue. rather than for police regulation,
and therefore reversed the decision of
the lower court