The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-06-02
ROOSEVELT GETS
INDICATION HE
ASKED FOR
Defendent Himself Said He Was
Convinced
HAPPY END OF TRIAL
After Newetts Testimony Col. Roose
welt Withdrew All Demand
For Damages.

Marquette Mich, June 1.-Theo-
dore Roosevelt was vindicated yester-
day in the most thorough and COM
plete manner of the charge of drink
ing to excess. The defendant, the
judge, and the jury in the Roosevelt
Newett libel case united one after an
other, in testifying to his vindication.
In a most dramatic manner he at
tanned the object for which he has
been fighting during the last week
the crushing OF clander which
has pursued him at every turn for
years, and which, though seldom
getting into print, has been common
gossip throughout the land.
He finished the presentation of his
case against George A. Newett at
PAS o'clock yesterday afternoon.
Mr. Newett took the stand and testi-
fed that he had searched the country
over for witnesses against Col. Roose
welt and could not find one who could
swear of his knowledge that the col
onel drank to excess. He announced
his own entire belief in the sobriety
of the man he had libelled, having
been convinced of it no less by his
own inability to find any proof to the
contrary than by the long array of
men who swore to the colonel's tenn
perance, and by the impossibility
that they could be lying or could be
mistaken. In short. he proved to be
the best witness for Col Roosevelt
that had been produced in the whole
trial. He pleaded only that he had
acted in good faith, having been made
victim of the hole-and-corner gossip
that had been smirching the colonel's
reputation in many other places than
Ishpeming.
Mr.. Newett is a victim of the man
nearly everybody has met who says
II know of my own knowledge that
Roosevelt drinks" or 81 have ii on
the highest authority"
Following Mr. Newett's statement
Col. Roosevelt asked permission to
make statement, and in a voice
that rang through the courtroom
said that his aim had been to smash
the scandal once for all, so that no
man could ever again repeat the Sian
der in good faith. He was not try
ing to punish Mr.. Newett, he said,
and in view of the defendants state.
ment he asked the court TO instruct
the jury that he wanted only nomi-
nal damages. In Michigan this means
the sum of six cents.
Judge Flanagan ordered a recess,
and when the court reconvened he
charged the jury to bring in a YER
dict of six cents damages as request
ed by the colonel. But he went be-
yond the mere necessities of the case
by putting on the record his declara-
ton that the evidence produced in
the case had carried conviction to
him personally. He said:
He (meaning Col. Roosevelt) has
undoubtedly convinced you, gentle
men, and certainly he has convinced
the court, not only that he never
was drunk, but that he now is and al
ways has been temperate man"
Then he asked the jury for its YER
dict, and Foreman w. II. Matthews.
instead of saying that they found for
the plaintiif, arose and announced
with evident satisfaction: I'VE find
for Theodore Roosevelt"
The colonel held a reception in the
courtroom, and he and his party de-
parted for New York at $50 o'clock
in hail of congratulations from the
big crowd at the station. Some of
the jury came down to the station
TO see them off