The star-independent. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1904-1917, 1915-05-22
ROOSEVELT VICTORIOUS
IN Libel SUIT

NOAuuuou = RUN Fhfot faKe.
diet attorneys for Mr.. Barnes objected
to its receipt. The objection was over
ruled, the jury was thanked by Justice
Andrews for its services and it then
filed out into the jury room. Colonel
Roosevelt broke off shaking hands with
his counsel and several newspaper men
whom he has known for several years,
and hurried to the jury room. There
he thanked the jury and shook hands
with each member and said:
In my whole life I shall work in
the interest of the public and none Of
you gentlemen shall ever have the
chance to say that l have done other
wise.''
Photographed With Jury
The Colonel was then photo.
graphed with the jury. After the pic
ture had been taken the Colonel turned
to the jury and continued:
II am more moved by this verdict
than it is possible for me to express.
None of you, l assure you, will ever
have cause to regret your action. l am
especially gratifed that such verdict
came from jury composed of men of
every pol1tlcal 1alth.
The foreman of the jury said that
forty ballots in all were taken before
the verdict was finally agreed upon.
The first ballot taken more than forty
hours before the jury came in to-day,
was nine to three in favor of the de,
PENDANT. 1t remained at that figure for
about five hours.
The Colonel left the building in a
crowd, through which were scattered
several of the jurymen. Before he sep.
arated from the jury the Colonel said
to its members:
Thanks Jurors Second Time
Gentlemen: This is a typical
American verdict. 1 want to thank
you again"
crowd gathered at the door of the
Court House and cheered Juror Burns
as he left the building. Colonel Roose.
veit declined to make any comment fur
ther than that which he made in the
jury room. HE said, however, that his
attorney, John NJ. Bowers, had pre-
pared statement which met with his
approval. Following is the statement
The verdict of an unanimous jury
is that Theodore Roosevelt had justified
the entire article in suit
1.-THE victory that Mr.. Roosevelt has
won is victory for good government.
The issue put to the jury was whether
machine government or government by
the people should prevail, and the lat
ter has prevailed. The article in this
suit was held by the court to be libelous
in two aspects:
Corrupt Political Alliance
''First, because it charged a cor
rupt political alliance between William
Barnes, the Republican leader of the
State, and Charles F. Murphy, the Dem
ccratic leader of the State, in relation
to the State government. (This, the
Judge held, was the meaning and pur-
port of the article taken as a wholel
Second because the article charged
that the plaintiff had worked through
a corrupt alliance between crooked bust
ness and crooked politics. The jury
were further instructed that they must
render verdict in favor of the plain
tiff, unless they found that the defend.
ant established to their satisfaction
that both charges were true. This
burden was successfully borne by Mr.
Roosevelt.
II 10 lHiposolUIc W uCtcTHifuc at tulS
time the far.reaching extent of this
verdict. The verdict certainly assures
us that the Anglo Saxon system of de-
termining questions between litigants
is rightly lodged in the hands of jury
of twelve men.
Moreover, it determines that jurors
holding political views opposed to those
held by party will not be swayed
thereby in determining the questions
submitted to them.
All Ballots II to 4, Except Last
"My associates and / have fully ap-
preciated the responsibility we assumed
in advising the course to be taken in
defending the action and it is a source
of great satisfaction that the result
achieved has justified our advice
The foreman of the jury in state
ment said:
"After the first ballot we stood II
to 1 in favor of the defendant. Those
figures weie never changed, Mr.. Burns
refusing to change his vote until this
morning.
"Except for Mr.. Burns, the jurors
who voted for the plaintiff on the first
ballot did so, they said, because they
did not want it to appear that they
gave insufficient consideration to the
great mass of evidence that was pre-
sented those five long weeks. We are
all very tirnd I assure VOu. ~