The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1916-07-13
Howard Levan Gets Jury's
Verdict Against Two
BlOdgett Citizens.
WILLIAM MCBRIDE AND
HARRIS DEFENDANTS
Gang Accused Levan of Window
Peeping as Cause for
Whipping.

q horse-whipping, while tied hand
and foot, by men who wore masks and
invaded his home after nightfall, yes
terday was considered worth only
$3.50 by jury in the Scott County
Circuit Court who tried the $4,000
damage suit Howard Levan brought
against William Mcbride and Morris
Harris, both of Blodgett.
The members of the jury deliberated
for several minutes before they ar
rived at a verdict in favor of Levan,
the man who had been whipped, and
fixed his damages at $62.5O. The costs
also were charged up to the defend
ants in the case.
The horse-whipping occurred in
Blodgett last fall when a gang of men,
some of whom were armed, appeared
at Levan's home, took him from his
wife:s arms, carried him to the yard
in front of his house and beat him.
After the whipping, Levan sought
aid of an attorney after he believed he
had established the identity of two of
the men in the hOrse-whipping gang.
Mcbride, who is the head bOOkkeeper
for the B. F. Marshall Mercantile Co.,
in Blodgett, entered the Levan home
ahead of the remainder of the gang.
According to Levan's testimony yes
terday, Mcbride was armed and he
told Levan that he had come to pro-
tect him from gang of men who were
on their way to his home to whip him.
A few moments later, the door was
thrust open. Mcbride put up a short
scrap with the men and then Levan
was carried out for the whipping. Nc
Bride was unmasked, so that Levan
identified him as one of the men ion
nected with the affair.
Harris, who is cashier in a bank at
Blodgett, Levan said he identified by
a tattoo mark of star on Harris arm.
The suit for $4,000 against the two
men was field for Levan by Attorney
o. A. Knehans, who was assisted in
the trial Of the case by Senator T. F.
Lane. Attorney A. NJ. Spradling of
Jackson, and Attorney Albert DeRaign
of Benton, were lawyers for Hairs and
Mcbride.
Levan testified in his own behalf and
after he had told his story to the jury,
he was cross-examined. The attorneys
for the defendants then got into the
record testimony seeking to show that
the reason Levan was whipped was be-
cause of charges of window peeping
that lad been made against him.
He was asked the question, and he
made a denial of the charge. Sprad-
ling and DeRaign put on five witness
es to show facts concerning the char
acter of Levan, but at no time did
either defendant take the stand to
make a denial that he had taken a
hand in the whipping. The denial was
made for the most by inference by the
attorneys for the defendants.
At the close of the case, knehans
and Lane offered an instruction to the
jury that verdict for $1,000 be order
ed by the Judge, on the grounds that
no denial of the charges of horse-whip-
ping had been made, but rather the
character of Levan had been attacked.
Levan's attorneys told the jury that
the damages they wanted would be
reasonable if placed at $1,000.
Last night it was suggested that the
damages that finally were allowed by
the jury virtually amount to the
money that Levan could have earned
in the two weeks that he was laid up
from wounds received in the whipping,
plus the doctors bill.