Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-08-18
POLITICAL ATTACK
ON CARROLL WAVES
EFFORTS TO MAKE CAPITAL OUT
OF INDICTMENT PROVES
FAILURE.
PROSECUTION is STATE CASE
AND NOT PERSONAL MATTER
Governor Will Mako His Defense on
"PriviIesed Communication Plea
Tho" Try to Show 8 Jack o" o0""''
Was Justified il 3 % is Allowed to
Go to Jury.
snoc,o, TO r, %.-Republican.

Des Moip Aus. 1s-ihe o'SpoSi
ton on u art of portion OF inc
press of (. state to treat the Carroi'
Indictment for criminal libel as purely
a political matter, thus to make OF IL
disturbing factor in the campaign. mas
almost entirely disappeared since '"e
aaoption by the state convention, by
majority of over $50. of the resoi"''o''
of confidence in the governor some
of the democratic newspapers are sun
insisting that 1t is purely controversy
between John Cownie and r. f. Carroii
ana that II Is up to Mr.. Cownie to
"prove his case" But the case Is, on
rho contrary 81 state case. in which
Mr. cownie can appear only as state
witness and must then appear only IN
defense OF his own honor by denial Oh
accusa tons or destinations the pub
LEGATIONS of which is not denied
AT no time has there been any great
interest In the matter here. 1t mas nov
been looked upon as political matter
at least in it's finish. The fact that
the grand jury was composed of good
honest farmers who pay little attention
TO politics and that the only man on
the jury who voted against indictment
was the one who was elected as a
progressive republican. showed that the
Indictment. at least, was political
The early plans of those who set out
to defend the governor have been ma
terially changed. The first movement;
was To besmirch Mr. Cownie personally
and then to denouncc the progressive
republicans and make II appear thai
they instigated the whole thing This
line of defense did not prove very eff
fective.
"Privilesed Communication" Defense.
1t is learned positively from persons
on the inside that the real plan of de-
tense IN court now is to claim tllt
"privileged communication idea: or II
other words. that the governor as gov
ernor has right to publish what he
did because of its official nature The
claim will be that all he did was e
state that certain papers were on fill,
in his office. He did not even intimate
that they We're true. He did not say
he believed them. He did not insinuate
that they had anything whatever to do
with the demand which he made for
the resignation of Mr.. Cownie In 9th
er words, all that the governor did was
10 recite in part the contents of certain
papers which he had been able to Sc
cure in the course of his Investigations
and no matter what these papers con
tanned. they were privileged because
OF having been received in his office a.
governor.
Right at the outset of the case the
governors attorneys will move TO dis
miss the whole case and take 1t from
the jury because OF this claim of the
privileged character of the communico :
tons given TO the public thru the ev
enng Capital.
justification Plea to Jury.
In the event that the case is per
mitted by the court to go TO tho inv
on It's merits. as was done in the case
Of Governor Larrabee, an effort will he
made by the defense to show tust,f,ca
ton for the circulation of the state
nlents rejecting on the character OF n
private citizen on the ground that the
governor was merely acting In his own
defense. The claim is to be made that
Mr.. Cownie was the aggressor and that
he was actuated all along by polttical
motives. Attorneys have tipped 1t off
that they will bring before the fury q
great mass of evidence to show that
the statements were forced by q po,iti-
cal attack upon the governor and that
he was merely defending himself in
what he did On the other hand 1t Is
claimed that insofar as Mr. Cownie tool,
any part In the matter he acted indie
pendently and alone and never acted
on the advice of any persons active in
politics.
The effort to go back into the history
Of the case will stop before going too
far. however, and nothing Is TO be
brought in back OF the time OF the
close of the last legislative session.
Guthrie to Prosecute AIone.
SO far as known County ATTORNEY
Thomas Guthrie will try the case alone.
He can not be accused OF having any
malice in the case as his political
status is not very clearly denned, and
all he has said is that he will prose-
cute 1t like other cases on the Grim
inal docket The case will probably
he tried with Judge Howe presiding
lie is the one judge who is going to
retire, hence would not be moved by
any consideration as to how 1t would
affect his vote in the fall. And Judge
Howe is accounted an eminently fair
and able trial Judge.