Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-21
NEALE IS ACCUSED
Publisher Charged With Send
ing a Threatening Letter.
HEARING is POSTPONED
Missive Alleged to Have Been Mail
ed to Mrs. Meriwether, Patron
of the Neale Company.

NEW YORK. October 21.-The prelimi-
nary hearing of the case of Walter Neale,
president of the Neale Publishing Com
pany arrested on the complaint of Mrs.
Elizabeth A. Meriwether of st. Louis was
postponed today until tomorrow afternoon.
Neale is charged with sending threat
| ening letter through the mails. The
charge is preferred by Mrs. Eliza beth A.
| Meriwether of St. Louis, whose book.
1.-THE Sowing of Swords. or the Soul of
the Sixties" was published by the Neale
company.
Mrs Meriwether. who is upward OF
ninety years old is the widow of Col
Minor Meriwether who was military
aid of jefferson Davis during the days
of the Confederacy.
Mrs. Meriwether's Suit Dismissed.
Mrs Meriwether came to this city from
ST. Louis to be present at d hearing be-
fore Justice Kelly in part III of the superior
court in Brooklyn. She asked that a
contract between her and the Neale Pub
fishing Company be rescinded and that
she get $4,000 in damages because her
book called THE Sowing of Swords, or
| the Soul of the Sixties which was pub
lished in 1910 by the Neale Publishing
| Company. had not sold to the extent tnat
she thought it deserved Justice Kelly
| dismissed the suit after the court had
| listened to Mrs, Meriwether RS testimony.
Following the dismissal of her suit
| Mrs. Meriwether. who is represented by
her son. Lee Meriwether of st. Louis,
upon the suggestion of Justice Kelly
| that the particular letter upon which
| Mrs. Meriwether based her new charges
was strong enough to warrant acton,
| took the letter to District Attorney whit
mans office and subsequently. on the
| urging of Assistant District Attorney
| Dickinson, a warrant was issued by Mag
| istrate Barlow.
Letter Sent by Neale.
| The letter i'm part follows.
| If however, / shall find that in the
| future YOU utter offensive word
against me or against my company. i'm
mediately, and without further notif1ca-
ton to you, l shall undertake to protect
| myself and my company against all such
| future attacks in the following manner:
Il shall print $1,000 copies of booklet
made up of my letter to you of January
-. 1911, Photographic reproduction of
page of your manuscript, such as L in
close marking the changes made, such a
page showing, does the specimen L in
close ninety-One alterations or more, in
Guiding words and phrases written in by
us, Photographic reproductions of parts
of letters that we have received of your
late husband, of your son, and of your |
self; reprints of parts of the letter that !
you addressed to one of our authors, |
when you found that you had been |
caught in the act, and that you could not !
make a pal of her; excerpts from the re- |
views of your book. such as the choice !
selection that l inclOse to you herewith !
and also i shall publish other exhibits of |
a kind that l shall not mention now. All /
these papers l can issue in a booklet at a |
small cost to my company, and these / |
shall circulate among the members of the |
United Confederate Veterans, the Daugh- |
tiers of the Confederacy and like organi- |
cations; among authors, and among per- |
sons well known in St Louis. All this !
We can do at a slight expense for We is |
sue hundreds of thousands of circulars a
year. and to include with our other in /
closures such booklet presented on this
paper with cost to US of but little.
Refuses to Annul Contract.
Il have said l have no wish to hurt
you unnecessarily, nor to hurt any per-
son eighty-seven years old: nor do l har-
Dor any feeling of animosity toward lu-
natics, the decrepit aged nor to ire
sponsible children. pity that you should
not be cared for by your friends, if you
have any, and that they should not pre-
vent the injury that you are doing to
yourself in your condition of irrespons
bility.
III the purposeof your letters is to
-ndeavor to get me to get my house to
relinauish it's rights under the contract
that relate TO the book, then you fail
dismally, l assure you. We shall not
relinquish single right under the con-
tract; we shall not terminate that instru-
ment until the time that We are required
to do under it's terms. No form of
blackmail. attempted or perpetrated, has
ever succeeded in intimidating this COM
pany nor any one of its officers
Neale's Statement.