Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-09-19

Charge of Criminal Libel to Be Heard
in Des Moines Today.
GROWS OUT OF SCHOOL SCANDAL
Defense win he that statements Are
PRIVILEGED Because secured by
Executive In His official
Capacity,
CFrom A staff Correspondent }

DIES MONIES. Sept R-(Special) Much
interest attaches to the corning trial In $
triet court " r. F. Carroll under an in
dfctment for Grim nal libel, which will com
mence tomorrow. provided Judge Howe Of
the district court Is able.
The Indictment followed publication in an
evening paper of an interview. which the
governor is said to have prepared care
fully. making sundry accusations of a grave
character against John Cownie, who was
for twelve years on the state board n
control, and whose resignation had been
demanded and secured by the governor last
spring.
Mr.. Cownie had been head OF the board
of control for many years and was re-
garded as one of the most valued public
servants the state has ever had. In re-
gard to the NItchellvile school while II
was known that some NJ the inmates whose
records were very bad had attacked him as
well as others nobody had ever paid any
attention to those outbreaks. The very
prominence OF MrI Cownie made It neces-
sary for the grand jury to take cognizance
of the accusations.
In behalf of the governor II is pleaded
that he merely states what information he
had and did not pretend to assure its ac-
curacy. and anyway that II was privileged
because II was information which had been
secured by him in his official capacity.
While none of the matter was on file nor
accessible to the public It rs contended that
II was official.
II is anticipated that the case will never
go to the jury but that 1t will be thrown
out for technical reasons Some attempt
has been made to cause II to appear that
the indictment was due to a political plot.
but as a matter of fact the presiding judge
of the criminal division was an appontee
of the governor, and the complexion of the
grand jury precluded this theory. Among
the attorneys on both sides of the case
there are democrats as we'll as republicans.
The presiding judge Is the only one of the
four not a candidate for office again and
he is entirely fair.
great many of the political friends of
the governor advised that the trial be put
off until after election but he was insistent
upon having the matter aired in court at
this time
Iowa Phone Assessments.
The net assessment to telephone and tele-
graph companies operating in Iowa for the
present year is 1894, 666 a. according to a
table compiled by Secretary Davidson on
the state executive council. This is an in
crease of nearly $4,000 over the net as
sessment of these companies and indicates
that the telephone and telegraph companies
have increased their business very ma
terially during the past two years
Secretary Davidsons figures show that
the telegraph companies this year have
1883 instruments, with a pole mileage of
1886 miles, bringing their net assessment
to $795. 071.6s. Their last assessment showed
4,5O2 instruments. with a total of 10,460 70
pole mileage and net assessment of
1885, 3S3.SS.
Toll line assessments for this year show
twenty-three toll instruments with pole
mileage of 1,OiO94 miles and net assess
ment of $77,S09. Their last assessment
showed thirty toll instruments with a pole
mileage of 1,1931s miles and a net assess
ment of $sO.3227O
Porter starts His Campaign.
Ex-senator Claude Porter of Centervlle
had a conference with the members of the
democratic state committee today and pre-
pared to start on his campaign into
northern Iowa this week. His first en-
gagement Is in Sioux City Tuesday evening,
after which he win go to a number OF
places in the northern part of the state,
and speak for two weeks steadily. some
times twice each deT. Thus far the only
other speaker for the campaign secured 1,
W. ]. Bryan. but II is planned that Champ
Clark and others will come into the state
to aid Porter. The democratic committee
claims to have virtually completed state
organization and to be fully prepared for
a lively campaign.
Using Some Roosevelt Literature.
To prove that a constitutional conven-
ton is the best way to secure prohibition
the Anti-Saloon league has lined up Theo'
dore Roosevelt as one of its allies. In a
| leaflet just issued the league points to the