New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-02
| CROP Of HEARST
LIBEL SUITS NOW
Lawyers Trying to Find
Whether Criminal Action Will
Lie Against Gaynor.
TO SUE IN MANY CITIES
Times" Eagle" and The Asso-
ciated Press Already Defend
ants for Publishing
Mayor Speech.

Thursday evening a the dinner of tn
Associated Press and the American
Newspaper Publishers Association at tn,
Waldorf. Actions for 100000 eacl
against 1.-THE New York Times anc
1.-The Brooklyn Daily Eagle have al
ready been filed by Clarence ]. Shearn
acting for William Randolph Hearst
and more writs will be issued to-day
against newspapers in various parts OF
the country which published the Mayors
speech Moreover. Mr. Hearst has
brought suit against the Associated
Press for SjO0o00 for sending the
Mayors speech to its members. nclud
ing Mr. Hearts New York american -
which published it in fun, with the
statement that it was furnished by The
Associated Press
One Of Mr.. Hearst's associates said
yesterday that the EDITORS counsel was
considering what action he should take
/ with regard to the Mayor himself. No
civil suit will be brought against the
! Mayor. it was said. but counsel for Mr..
! Hearst are trying to decide whether an
action for criminal libel will lie.
Mayor Gaynor. at the dinner, charged
! that the American in publishing a
Photographic reproduction of a warrant
! for the payment of $4,000 to Daniel F
Cohalan, Charles f. Murphys chief ad-
/ wiser in Tammany Hall, had committed
/ two states prison felonies, because the
date. December 81. 1909" did not ap-
pear in the warrant as reproduced in
! the newspaper.
The truth is said the Mayor II
am assured that the dates were actually
cut out of the plate with routing ma
! chine"
! This was done said the Mayor. in an
attempt to place the responsibility for
the payment upon the present Mayor
whereas the payment was authorized by
the previous administration.
Gaynor's Charge Denied.
Mr.. Hearst absolutely denied in his
reply that the dates had been routed
out of the plate, and added that Mayor
Mcclellan had stopped the payment of
the warrant and left the matter to his
successor
James J. Martin the Chamberlain
under the Mcclellan administration;
former Controller Herman A. Metz and
Controller Prendergast have each given
their versions of the circumstances
These have been published in The Trib-
une- Yesterday the New York "Ameri-
can" published Mayor McC1ellan's ac-
count of the affair in the form of the
following cable message:
Florence itaiN ApTil 30 1910
To the Editor OF The New York Ameri-
can:
In the last days of my administration
Chamberlain Martin called my attention
TO the forty eight thousand dollar war
rant to COhalan. AS the amount seemed
excessive for the work alleged to have
been performed. l directed Martin to Sc
cure the warrant in the Finance Depart
ment and return ii to me. In the rush of
leaving Office I had no time to inyeSti
gate, and directed the chief clerk in the
Mayors Office to hold up the warrant and
call my successors attention to it imme-
diaUcly after January l. | am confident
the clerk 0beyed. The amount may have
been justified. but ! did not authorize
its payment
GEORGE y. MCCLELLAN.
Clarence j Shearn said yesterday that
further action would be taken
We will cause the issue of writs to-
morrow against newspapers in Boston
Chicago and san Francisco" said MI
Shearn, and soon possible MY
instructions are t. sue every paper tina:
has published al unfair report of the
speech
Wattcrson on the List.
Does that include Colonel Henry
Watterson's paper"
1t does. most decidedly One Of the
first 10 be proceeded against will DO The
Louisville. CONFECTIONERY
VIII you also proceed against Mayor
Gaynor HIMSELF"
y must decline to discuss that part Of
the question I am attending to the
legal side OF the affair. and do not care
70 discuss any possible action that has
not been decided upon. I may say, how
ever. that Mr.. Hearst is not taking these
actions 10 recover from financial point
of view. but only to obtain complete
vindication. The publication OF the
speech all over the country gave the
story against Mr. Hearst twenty-fouI'
hours start. and ii is hard to catch UP
with ,uch stories. but we will do the best
we can TO accomplish that object by
forcing 4 full explanation of the whole
tr:8nsa ctiOn.'
Ad.lph :. Ochs. Of The Times" was
absent from the city yesterday. 1t was
said Tor The Times" that the report Of
the. dinner was published like any other
niece If news. The publication Of the
photographs Of the warrant az pub
ltsbod i'm The American without the
date and the other from the photograph
yeas also. il was said. in tho regular
oaurso. The photographs We're obtained
~ tho dinner from Mayor Gaynor, it was
said
There seems to be an impression
said Mr. Ochs's representative. that
The Times had advance information.
In, that is erroneous. We got the story
# tb.. dinner. just as the other papers
ofd MIR. Ochs did his best to get hear
inc for r. T. Williams. Mr. Hearts pub
1;shar aud ~. tried 20 get statement
f,o,,, Nj Hearst or from some Of his
,-,,,,-os,.,,tHtivcs on Thursday night but
co,,,d NOT get it The copy of Mayor
,,,,,,or.s ~ncech was delivered at this
Once Al 9:35 2. M, and l understand
H.. II WAS delivered 70 Mr.. Hearst s
am naner. The American fifteen min
ITO earlier. ! have not card as yet
that The American Was surd for pub