Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1913-06-04
ROOSEVELT TELLS
OF USE OF LIQUOR
Admits Drinking Light Wines, De-
MES Over Indulgence.
REVIEWS HIS LIFE STORY
cross-Examination of Colonel by Coun-
sci for Defense Proves Disappoint-
Ing, as Nothing Sensational
Is Brought Out.

hdL4u6Cl0y M1Cu-J N1dy ZS.-SOi.
Theodore Roosevelt, a picture of rud-
dy vigor and perfect health, turned
a square jaw in the direction of the
jury composed of twelve farmers,
teamsters, miners and woodsmen, in
the county court here Tuesday in the
hearing of his $4,000 libel suit against
George Newett, editor of the Ishpem-
ing Iron Ore, who had editorially
charged in his paper the former presi-
dent with getting drunk and that fire.
quently, and gave his character for
sObriety as mot a total abstainer,"
but was never intoxicated in his life
Colonel Roosevelt told the story of
his life and his counsel, James H.
Pound, in spite of objections, asked
many questions that made the colonel
tell about the various high public Of
fees he had held, his Cuban campaign,
the books he had written, his life in
the west, and the attempt to assassi-
nate him at Milwaukee.
Mr.! Roosevelt said, with great earn
estness, that he never drank a high
ball or a cocktail in his life; that he
"
liquor to the slightest degree and that,
while not a total abstainer, he was
very nearly one. In fifteen years, he
declared, he had consumed less than
a dozen drinks Of whisky, and then
usually under a doctors order, the
whisky being measured in a graduated
glass He never took two drinks of
whisky in the same day and, while at
state banquets he sometimes took a
single glass of champagne in obedience
to custom, he never had wine on his
private table. On two occasions the
colonel had drank mint juleps away
from Washington, but the counsel
brought out the fact that one of these
occasions was in st. Louis and the
other at Little Rock.
Colonel Roosevelt's direct examina-
ton lasted for nearly two hours.
The cross-examination Of Colonel
Roosevelt by Attorney Horace A. An
drews of Cleveland was disappointing
to the audience in the courtroom, in
asmuch as it brought out no damaging
admission. Colonel Roosevelt not only
held his own, but seized every oppor-
tunity of saying things that strength
ened his direct examination and un-
doubted1y produced as good an effect
on the jury as 1t seemed to do on the
people in the courtroom.
The defense decided in 20 minutes
that it had no wish to cross-examlne
Colonel Roosevelt further and, after
a few more questions from his own
counsel. he left the stand.
The other witnesses examined dur
ing the day were men of national
prominence who have been intimate
with Colonel Roosevelt for years and
who testified they had never seen him
under the influence of liquor and that
he only drank champagne at state ban
DUETS. white wine to the extent of one
glass at formal dinners, and no alco
holics of any kind at his own table.
These witnesses were Jacob Riis OF
New York. author of How the Other
Half Lives and prominent as So
biologist and reformer; DR.. Alexander
Lambert, a famous authority on alco-
holic and drug diseases and physician
to the Roosevelt family; DR.. P. NJ
Rixey. surgeon general of the United
States army, retired, and personal ply
stefan to Colonel Roosevelt while the
latter was president, and Fl. ellison
Gardner, Washington newspaper man
who had been with Mr.. Roosevelt on
almost all of his campaign trips.
The witnesses agreed. in the MAN,
but Jacob Riis, who in common with
the other witnesses, we're excluded
from the courtroom while Colonel
Roosevelt was on the stand. stoutly in
sisted that he knew absolutely that
Colonel Roosevelt never tasted whisky
or brandy and that he would not be-
lieve any man who said that he did.
The cross-examination of the witnesses
were not long in any case, or brought
out much Of comfort to the defense
The hand-clapping came when the
colonel, in response to a question in
his direct examination by Colonel
Pound as to whether he had ever bees.
under fire in Cuba. grinned fiercely
and, displaying every molar. il his
jaws. Kissed out: 4 was under every
fire there was in the Cuban campaign"
Soons Censure Labor Leaders.