Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1913-05-26
ROOSEVELT SUES
MAN FOR LIBEL
CASE AGAINST ISHPEMING EDI-
TOR BEGINS EDITOR
CHARGED ENPRESIDENT WITH
DRUNKENNESS.
JURY IMPANELED AND OPENING
STATEMENTS OF ATTORNEYS
WERE MADE EDIT
OR WILL FIGHT CASE THROUGH.
Especial to The HCrdld.O

Marquette. Mich. May 26-Thc suit
Of 4 f0rIEcr President of the United
States To recover so 0G0 damages for al
legged li5cl hy q newspaper editor began
here bfCrc Judge Richard &. Flanagan.
IF the Marquette county circuit court
today when the case of Theodore ROcse-
velt versus George A. Ncwett, of Ishpc
ming Mich. Went to trial.
NcWett during the last presidential
campaign printed a scathing editorial
arraignmcnt of Roosevelt and his organ
iation OF The Progressive party, i'm the
Iron ore. a republican weekly newSpa
per published at Ishcpming. Besides
ilatly branding Roosevelt aS a fa!sifier
Editor Ncwctt. wrote Roosevelt Ecs
and curses in q most disgusting way: lie
gets drunk. too. and that not infrcqucnt
ly and all his intimatcS know about IT,
IT was on this paragraph in the cdi-
torial that Colonel Roosevelt based the
libel suit which vent To trial today. The
editorial in question was printed iii the
issue of October l. 1912 In addition to
today'S civil action. criminal action
based on the same editorial is pending
against Ncwctt in the justice court here
Two days after the publication Of the
editorial, while Roosevelt was in Chica-
80 preparing to go to Milwaukee. Il copy
of The Iron Ore was put in ROOSevelt'S
hands. He Immediately gave instruc
tions to his LAWYERS to begin Il civil
suit for libel. Henry N Wallace the
Detroit progressive was placed in charge
of the action Of the cX-prcsidcnt against
the Michigan editor. James ii. Pound
represented Colonel Roosevelt in court
today.
The evening Of the day on which RooSe
welt was shown the editorial he went to
Milwaukee where he was shot bv the
Iunatic John Schrank. The former pres
idents subsequent illness DELAYED the inn
mediate fling of the suit which was not
instituted uNil October -.
The entire editorial is quoted in the
formal complaint made TO the court. but
the petition declared Roosevelt would
waive all claim to damages for any Of
the alleged libel contained in the pub
licatiOn except in that paragraph which
charged the former president with in
temperance.
Editor Ncwctt and his lawyer. William
=. Belding, Of IShpeming- again today
declared their intention of fighting the
suit to the last. In Ncwctt's 's~anSwcr to
the suit he pleaded justification. He
declared his charges were made in good
faith and without malice and under cir
cumstancrS creating the qualified priv
ilege, to wit. that at the time alleged.
when the plaintiff was candidate for the
office of President of the United States.
his public conduct and his fitness for
such Office were properly subject to dis
cuSsOn as matters of common interest.
and that at the time alleged in the dec
laratiOn. it was widely and currently re-
ported that the plaintiff was then and
had been for a long time a man of intem-
perate habits Ncwett dflared he had
learned from sources he deemed rcli-
able" that the statements made in the
editorial were true.
Newctt, thrOuh his attorney, today
decalred that he will produce evidence
and witnesses to prove that his state
mentS are true. The defense, however.
refused absolutely to tell in advance
who any Of the witnesses will be-
For Roosevelt. it was expected that
many prominent men. men known ma
tiOnally, will testify in person for the
former President and tlrlt ROoSevcltS
attorney was prepared today to present
dcpoSitionS from many others who were
unable 10 come here. Attorney Pound
for Roosevelt repeated the statement is
sued by the Progressive National com
mttcc in which it was declared that the
\ elimination Of an insidiouS campaign Of
N SANDER against Colonel Roosevelt
\ Pound today called special attention to
the fact taht the suit was no instituted
to recover money damages and the
amount asked was therefore fixed at a
nominal sum
The suit has once been postponed.
\ When it was called ut the February term
Of the court Newett's lawyers succeeded
in having it continued until the May
term to permit the taking of depOstiOns
i'm various parts of the country. They
also requested that the depositiOns he
suppressed. The court granted the two
motions and il was not until they were
publicly read in court that the names of
the depOnents were made known.
The substance of the ailidavitS on
which \eWett'S case will rest became