The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1914-01-27
LIBEL VERDICT
TO Be APPEALED
Contention Made That Petit Jury
Panel Illegally Selected.

James H. Bolitho, William Matthews
and. Charles p. MacFall, against whom
a verdict was brought and damages
assessed at 81 500 by a jury that
tried the libel suit of John w. Rob-
erts, claim agent for the Morris
County Traction company for an al
legged libel in the Morris County
Educator" have decided to appeal
the case. One of the points of the
appeal will be the contention that
the petit jury panel was not chosen
according to law. The panel was
chosen under the Fielder act and
this is contended to be illegal by the
counsel for the three men in the face
of the decision that the Jury reform
law" is constitutional as made last
week by the court of appeals.
The article referred to "claim
agent of certain trolley company"
as being various things a. good citi-
zen should not be. Mr.. Matthews
and Mr.. MacFall were put on the
stand by Elmer King, MIR. Roberts
counsel, and swore to being the edi-
tor and business manager respective
ly. of the sheet which is published
at Dover, in Morris county, though
printed at Reading, Pa. Mr.. Roberts
and Otto G. Schultz, secretary and
treasurer of the trolley company
testified to a conversation in the
trolley company's office during which
Mr.. Bolitho was alleged to have said
THAT Mr.. Roberts was all the article
said he was and that he had the af-
fidayits in his pocket to prove it
and more. Mr.. Bolitho on the stand
denied making any such statement
and denied that he was the author
of the article as charged by Mr.. Rob-
erts.
1t appeared according to the evil
dence presented that Mr.. Bolitno
had as his client Hungarian named
Valent Milanak who had been injured
in trolley accident at Rockaway.
Mr.. Bolitho admitted writing a letter
to Mr.. Roberts in which he accused
the latter of shyster tactics in han
ding the case and another letter to
the trolley company i'm which he
heaped vituperation upon Mr.. Rob-
'erts as its claim agent. In the Rob-
erts letter MIR. Bolitho had promised
to SHOW him up" DIR. George Fos-
ter, of Rockaway, also appeared in
the case as having attended Milanak
and was alleged to be the physician
meant that was called in the article
the 'dopey DOCTOR"
Mr.. Bolitho entered "a general denial
of his authorship of the article but
Mr.. King read to the jury certain
phrases from the letters written by
Mr.. Bolitho to the trolley company
and ITO Mr.. Roberts that Mr. King
claimed bore a similarity TO phrases
appearing in the article, complained
of and also called the attention of
tie jury to the fact that Mr.. Bolitho
ter to Mr.. Roberts, spelling lit
sinister and that the same word,
appearing in the newspaper article,
was also spelled sinister
Mr.. Matthews and Mr. MacFall,
the questioning of their coun-
sci, Henry Caress, denied that Mr..
Roberts WAS meant by the claim
agent referred to and asserted the ar
ticle was general in it's nature and
did not mean any particular trolley
company or claim agent.
When the jury was being selected
there were several challenges made,
the plaintiff and defence each chal-
longing several. Mr.. King asked
each juryman If he was a member of
either the socialist party or of "a
labor organization. Mr.. Caress, in
summing up his case, asked the jury
not to be biased against the paper
because it was issued by the social
lists but was halted by Judge Black,
who said that the politics of the pa
per had nothing whatsoever ito do
with the case and that if there was
amy man on the jury who would be
swayed by such a proposition he was
not fit to serve.
No attempt was made by the de-
fence to prove the assertions made,
their contention being that Mr. Rob-
erts was not meant. 1t took the jury
less than one hour to decide upon a
uardiof