The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-01-30
PASTOR RUSSELL
LOSES HIS SUIT
MIRACLE WHEAT CARTOON IN THE
BHooKIslN EAGLE NOR a
LABEL.
MAY TAKE APPEAL
EVEN ALLEGED ASpERsIoNs CAST
ON PASTORS WHISPERS FAN
TO MOVE THE
JURY.

NEW YORK. Jan, ga verdict
for the Eagle and against Pastor
Charles T. Russell of miracle" wheat
fame WAS returned by a jury before
Supreme Court Justice Kelby in
Brooklyn yesterday at the close of a
Sf00,0oo libel suit which had grown
out Of the publication IN the Brook
Ign newspaper Of cartoon pretend
ing to portray the plaintiff in the act
of being called away from his task of
peddling miracle" wheat 10 toin the
Onion" bank directors. The jury
WAS out forty minutes.
Pictured Him as Crook.
Pastor Russell objected to the car
toon on the ground that it was an
unfair characterization, which pic
tured him as a crook and fit company
for the men who had wrecked the
Union bank tie objected also to the
title Easy Money Puzzle that ap-
pearcd beneath the cartoon, and
Furthermore, to extracts from the
news and editorial columns, includ-
ing a paragraph in which he was
credited, he alleged with "the wis
dom If the serpent
In summing up for the defense
Isaac r. ICELAND insisted that the sale
Of miracle wheat as carried on in
Poster Russeu's tabernacle and else
where was "A purely business scheme
to benefit the Watch Tower Bible and
Tract society, which. he asserted, is
dominated by the pastor. The articles
and cartoons were justified by the
facts, he said. but he denied that there
had been on the Eagles part any in
clination to put Pastor Russell in the
crooked" financial class. II was not
intended to put him in a class with
the Union bank directors, but rather
to show him as a good salesman of
wheat too shrewd to bank his $1,000
a day in a looted institution
To the allegation that the plaintiff g
character had been injured Mr.. 1e-
land said:
What the plaintiff is you can infer
from the fact that he did not take
the witness stand and let you look in
his eyes as he told us Of his past
life"
Taking up the doctrine expounded
by the plaintiff the lawyer ridiculed
his theory of the return of the ancient
worthless to rule the world. He also
questioned the prophesied famine of
1914 and the sale of miracle wheat
at $50 a bushel to tide over the fam
inc when the same article could be
purchased elsewhere for So.
His followers, said Mr. ICELAND,
had been made to believe that every
thing Pastor Russell wrote was gos-
pei truth and they rose for it like
fish for a minnow, but as soon as
these articles were printed the sale
was stopped short"
Russell I'm Court.
Mt Oeland emphasized the fact
that the wheat had ben grown on
land owned by the plaintiff
Pastor Russell entered court in time
to hear his own counsel, Frederick
w. Sparks, sum up. Mr.. Sparks de-
Tended the reputation and motives OF
his client and defended the preacher
for retaining control of a society to
which he had donated, it was said. a
fortune of $3.50, 000 twenty-five years
before. Counsel denied that Pastor
Russell had any idea of selling
miracle wheat at profit. or of sell
ing II at all, when he published the
first notice in the Watch Tower
Mr., Sparks waxed eloquent in as
sorting that the paper even had liz
heled his clients whiskers. This in
reference to the cartoon in which the
preacher was depicted as peddling
miracle" wheat. He denied that Pas
tor Russell had made a profit out of
the Watch Tower society,
After the verdict was announced,
Mr.. Sparks moved that 1t be set aside.
Justice Kelhy denied the motion.
Later Sparks announced that he
might appeal