Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1905-10-12
Williams Is Guilty.

- Ro OAAA, O$RI' ~, A|OOs
The following is taken from
| the Parson Sun and is of especial
interest to Mcpherson county
people:
"The jury in the case of the
Farmers Alliance Insurance
company against A. B. Williams,
the local representative of the
Connecticut Insurance company,
reached verdictearly this morn
ing after nearly fifty hours of
secret deliberation. According
to the verdict reached, Mr.. Will
1iams is guilty as charged in the
information. He was arrested
and tried on eight counts and the
jury brought in verdict for
conviction on each allegation.
The case was one of the hardest
fought of any ever tried in this
county. Mr.. Williams will prob
ably appeal the case and ask for
another trial.
-"The crime of criminal libel,
such as Mr.. Williams has Just
been convicted of. is punishable
by payments of ST., 900 fine and a
term of one year in the county
Jail. Should a new trial result
or an appeal result in the decis-
ion reached today being sustain
ed, Mr.. Williams would have an
immense fine to pay as we'll as a
long term in prison. However,
Mr.. Williams is still hopeful for
a reversal of matters in another
trial or on an appeal. His coun-
sci have taken the steps prece-
dent to asking for new trial"
''It is probable that no jury in
this county was in the jury room
for such prolonged period as
the twelve men who tried this
case. The final arguments of
the attorneys ended Wednesday
forenoon, after which the case
was submitted to the jury. Mas
terly arguments were made on
both sides and the case was watch
ed with keen interest by hun
dreds.
Mr.. Williams printed and ex-
tensively circulated hundreds of
circulars branding the Farmers
Alliance Insurance company as
false to its patrons. The COM
pany resented the action as be-
ing criminal label and the suit
and conviction resulted. &
There are about nine hundred
policy holders in Labette county. :.
Itwas butnatural that they should
be disturbed by these charges.
If they were true it was time to
drop the company; if they we're
false Mr.. Williams should be
held to account. A complaint
was made charging Mr.. Williams
with criminal libel. He was ar
rested and on the eleventh day of
September, 1905, he was brought
to trial in the District Court of
Labette county. Kansas. - /
The burden of proof layyupon
the members of the company.
The presumption af the law was
that Mr.. Williams was innocent
until he was proven guilty. So
it fell upon the Farmers Alliance
Insurance company to prove that
Mr.. Williams circular was false,
that their own business methods
were correct and that Mr.. Will
liams' attackwas malicious. This
they had to do at the home of the
prisoner and among his friends.
Officers of the company were
present and their books were
brought into court, every oppor-
tunity to cross examine. but so
utterly did Mr.. Williams fail to
discover proof of fraud or mis-
management that the jury re-
turned a verdict of guilty on
every one of the eight counts.
That is twelve men, his own
neigh bors, have said that Mr..
Williams circular was false in
toto, and criminally malicious as
well,
For years the Mutuals of Kan
sas and especially the Farmers
Alliance have been the objects of
a disreputable and unscrupulous
warfare, Defamatory circulars,
unsigned, undated, without i'm
prints, postmarked sometimes in
the state and sometimes else
where, and occasionally distrib-
on the streets, have been scatter
ed throughout among the people
by the tens of thousands.
! This company has not been
boastful, but as a servant of the
public, it has felt it a duty te