Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-10-01
JURY AFTER pELI5ERATlNo GUT
A SHORT TIME RETuRNs YER.
DICT AssoLviNo loWA's COVER.
Il NOR OF BLAME.
INSTRUCTIONS OF
COURT AID DEFENSE
STATE FAILED TO SHOW THAT
CARROLL WAS THE AGoREssoR
IN CASE AND THAT He Dis.
4 PLAYED MALICE.

sii DSSF sssStHSOl sSSPS- OVs-D\9S6ClAtl '5F9t
q do not know what shall do"
said John cowr,ie, in referring to
the acquittal OF Governor B. r. Car
roll on the charge Of criminal libel
by 4 Polk county Jury last night.
= have felt al: along after the rul-
ing OF Judge Howe aoainst the ad-
mission Of my evidence, that Car
roll would be acquitted. Some Of
my friends think should sue for
damages, but cannot sec that this
would do any good"
X is expected by tho friends Of
the governor that the federal
grand Jury will take up the ques-
tion Of whether or not coWnie vio-
lated the federal law In selling al
legged diseased cattle to Omaha
packers, but 1t is known that u. j S.
District Attorney m. =. Temple u
WORKING upon this phase Of the
case.
Des Moines, Sept. s0 Governor b. s
+. Carroll was declared not guilty OF 1
scriminally libeling John Cowni0 W :
jury In the Polk district court lasts
night.
The deliberations Of the Jury wers
brief and the verdict reached was ex-
pected by everyone who had closely
followed the case. AZ
The Jury went to its room It
o'clock and at 6:15 went out to dinner
in charge OF Bailiff Johnston Return
ing at 7.45 the jury retired ana In ex-
actly half an hour had reached an
agreement
1t is stated that on the first ballot
the jury was divided eleven for ac-
quittal and one for conviction. This di-
vision remained for six ballots, 1t is
stated, when the one man who had
been holding out for conviction Joined
with the others.
Governor Carroll was not in the
court room when Judge Howe received
the verdict Of the jury, but when ap-
prised of the action said "a
Governor Gratitled.
ITO say. that am gratified beyond
measure is unnecessary. don't be-
lieve anyone would have expected any
other verdict. expected 1t and was not
surprised when it came. No other YER
dict should have been returned"
John Cownie refused to comment on
ment last night.
for Governor Carroll put stress on the
fact. that the verdict In this case does
not affect Cownie nor prove or dis.
prove the charges made by the girls.
Every effort was made by the COVER
nor's attorneys to remove from the
minds of the jurors any idea that in
deciding this case they were going on
record for or against John Cownie.
The state in trying to prove its case
against the governor was confined by
the instructions Of the court to proof Of
the claim that the governor acted with
malice in publishing the statements he
did against Cownie, and that the gov
ernor by these statements exceeded his
legal rights Of self defense and retort
to charges made against him.
The charges that Cownie had sold
cattle from the :tate asylum at Glen
wood in violation Of the federal quaran-
tine laws, and that he also purchased
goods for state institutions without Sc
curing estimates as required by law.
were in evidence during the trial, but
were lost sight Of during the closing
days.
Other Questions.
The other questions in the case over.
shadowed them.
The whole case, as it went to the
jury, hinged upon one questions who
was the aggressor in the controversy
Cownie or Carroll Attorney Read for
the state, In his closing argument to
the Jury, asserted this was the pivot
upon which the case turned.
The state to prove that Governor
Carroll was the aggressor, had to rely
upon the claim that the governor in
calling In editors and others and telling
them of the charges against Cownie.
acted with malice and became the
aggressor, forcing Cownie to make the
statements he did in order to set him.
self right before the people Of the
state. In this. however, the state was
handicapped by the failure to show
! that the general public knew anything
of the charges against Cownie by rea-
son of the governors disclosure TO
them Of the charges against Cownie.
there being no evidence that any OF