New-York tribune., 1910-01-23
In TILT AT DINNER
BRISBANE AND GRADY
ROUSE GENESEANS.
Editor Glories in Papers 3Yel-
lOzCness and Senator GiUes
Opinion of Proprietor.

Genesee Society at the Waldorf last
night, in the form of pitched battle
1t was duel between Arthur Brisbane
editor of THE Journal" and Senator
Tom" Grady, minority leader in the
State Senate. The distance was about
forty PAGES and the weapons were lin
gual whips, applied personally and with
evident discrimination.
Mr. Brisbane didn't know, when he got
up to talk about The Journals" crusade
against that medley of corruption. Tam
many Hall" and the, red-faced. thick
necked rascals' who composed it, that
Senator Grady was an attentive listener
And Senator Grady didn't know that. he
was to have an almost immediate oppor-
tunity of getting back"
The Senator was not down on the pro-
gramme as-one OF the speakers. but Jus
tice James w. Gerard. the postmaster
spied him sitting among the diners over
near the door and presently hoped the
Senator would get up and SAY a few
words for the benefit of the ladies and
gentlemen present
The few words" that followed were a
surprise to all assembled, including the
chairman, and a painful one at least to
W. Bourke Cochran, who leaned over to
Justice Gerard and beseeched him for
Heavens sake" to stop it, meaning the
verbal flow, or torrent But Justice
Gerard considered that prudence was the
better part of valel and elected TO re
main silent.
Mr.. Brisbane was introduced as the
man who wrote about great public
wrongs that should be righted and
scandals in the lives of mosquitoes"
He began by saying that he was not go
ing TO talk about scandals in the lives of
mosquitoes.
VIEWS ON LIBEL.
Il want to say a few words about
libel he continued. The newspapers
do libel people. they do say things that
are not true that hurt people and that
can't be helped. But it is the little fell
lows that are hurt by falsehoods in the
press, big people are hurt by nothing
except the unpleasant truth. Therefore,
we try our best to be truthful about the
little people. But the harm done by libel
is not commensurate with that which
would be done should the newspapers
be interrupted in the fearless or even
hasty conduct of their business
THE Journal and other Hearst news
papers, am editor of The Journal, and
I hope It is the yellowest of them all
published recently some interesting let
ters. I don't know where they came
from; | didn't know anything about
them until they began to appear in print
Perhaps Mr.. Hearst knows [ don't
know whether he does or not
But do you know the chief objection
of many eminent citizens of this CITY to
the Murphy letters was that they were
being published? And if they were
stolen, as some say, was it not a plain
duty to steal these records of that med
ley of corruption, Tammany Hail. and of
those rascals with the red faces and
thick necks who compose it,"
After the speaker had alluded in
picturesque language also to the pub
Iication of the Standard OiI-Foraker
letters there was a moment of respite
While the Rev. DR.. Clarence A Barbour.
of Rochester, talked soothingly and wit
tily of the country man in town. The
calm descended on every one apparently
except Senator Grady. and the shock of
his explosion Immediately afterward was
therefore the greater
GRADY CUTS LOOSE.
AS one of the gang of red faced.
thick -necked grafters," he began. II rise
10 reply. Nobody thinks that the Murphy
letters were stolen; the proceeding was
much more dignified. The chambermaid
was bribed to save the fragments from
the wastebasket that they might be
pieced together"
The Senator's voice trembled and
growled with rage as he alluded 10 Mr.
Brsbane's remarks on libel. Nobody
objects TO newspapers when they tell the
truth he thundered, its when they
falsify"
During the years when the president
of your society (Justice Gerard) was
member of that political organization
which Mr.. Brisbane has so euphemis-
ucally described. he as we'll as myself
was held up to public contemplation as
a red-faced, thick necked CRATER The
Journal would have the people believe
that there was but one savior of the
people in the United States and that
his name was William r. Hearst Much
more interesting than the Murphy let
ters or those of the Standard oil would
be a biography of the career if its ed
itor"
Before the postmaster could inter
vene Mr. Brisbane had jumped up and
asked to pour little oil on the troubled
waves" Il wish" said he, ito offer
Senator Grady an apology I didn't know
there was any one here who would think
that l was throwing brickbats at his
head The Senator objects to my broad
characterization Jumping red faces, thick
necks and rascals / wish it understood
that l don't think of Senator Grady as
having either a red face or a thick
neck
He had hardly seated himself before
the minority leader Of the Senate popped
up and remarked:
MIR. Brisbane is laboring under mis-
apprehension. When | alluded TO the
career of the editor of The Journal I
should have said the proprietor"
That was the last word. Mr. Brisbane
bowed a stiff acknowledgment and
everybody took deep breath.
Clark Williams, State Controller, was
the guest of honor. He was introduced