South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-04-25
MOTT IMPOSES
A FINE OF 500
UPON ZUVER
Holds Answer Filed by De-
fenSe insufficient But COun-
sci Takes Case Up For
Settlement.

Whether John Henry Zuver,
editor of The News-Times, commit
ted an indirect contempt Of the St.
Joseph superior court by the pub
liCation Of an article in The News
Times Of March q. will be decided
by the Indiana supreme court. fol-
lowing the action of T. d. Mott Of
the superior court. Thursday morn
ing, i'm finding the editor guilty and
assessing a fine of S1O0 and costs,
having assumed the role of prose-
Cutor and Judge in a case which he.
himself had instituted.
Immediately following the action
OF Mott i'm Overruling the defend
ants answer. and motion for a re-
consideration of the opinion and
judgment. and for a new trial. and
RECESSION Of judgment. attorneys for
the editor filed notice OF appeal TO
the supreme court and asked for 30
DAYS in which 10 file a bill OF eXcep-
tions The appeal bond, which was
dved at $500 was Immediately fur
rished with G.. Z. Summers, Samuel
Parker and c.. p. Drummond as
,ureties
The action Of the court did not
come as surprise as il had been
freely circulated on the streets that
tie fine 90 be imposed by Mott
would be 500.
.I heard that that was what he
was going TO do a week ago. but
sm surprised he leaked that way"
remarked a prominent republican
politician i'm the superior court room
aa the Judge finished reading his
opinion "He must have leaked,
though he ended.
Mott began reading his opinion
a- soon as court convened. Il was
apparent from the first that the
defendant would be found guilty. He
ecan with the first paragraph OF
the defendants answer. and based
bis decision ON the alleged insult
uciency Of the answer 20 the affi-
aavit contained i'm the courts rule
citing the defendant 20 appear on
Indirect contempt charges.
Not Enough Time
Mott prefaced his reading by re-
marking that he had not had sufii
.ient time TO go as thoroughly into
the case as ne would have liked.
The opinion set out that the answer
81 the defense had made an attempt
at denial by affirming the truth Of
he newspaper article and by al
lcging that the proceedings 10
which the article referred were not
pending i'm court at the time OF the
publication Of the article.
THE denial Of the pendency Of
tie proceedings contained i'm the first
Paragraph OF the answer is seem
iug denial" the Judge read. 1T does
not deny whether the article was
published in the morning or even
ing issue OF the paper The alleGa-
tiot that the proceedings referred 10
we're not pending at the time of the
publication of the article, is simply
am affirmation. it does not constitute
denial"
The opinion eliminated from con-
sideration the headline OF the arti-
-Ie which ;he answer declared the
defendant had not written. He then
went into the alleged intent Phase O.;
the article. declaring that it did not
matter so much whether the article
accomplished its purpose - uid the
intent with which it was written.
Refers TO Porto Rico.
Mott took occasion IN referring
20 arbitrary powers OF courts and
the exercise OF these powers TO re-
fer 10 Porto Rico incident iu
which the opinion read he had been
,be victim of the exercise OF such
arbitrary power. He boasted that
he had been called before the su-
nrerne court OF Porto Rico for con.
tempt Of court. found guilty. sus-
pended from practice and forced "a
pav a fine. Apparently Mott had for
gotten the amount OF the fine be-
cause he failed TO give the correct
amount i'm his opinion i'm the zuvel
decision.
He described tine answer OF the
defense as ambiguous. He said that
IL failed 10 refer 10 any specific pro-
ceedings The opinion declared that
there were eight matters connected
with the case out Of which the al.
legged contempt proceedings grew
and that the defense's answer had
failed to specify which one.
I'VE have looked in vain Mot
read for g sufficient denial iu tn,
defeuse's answer. To is clear that i
charge of perjury were hrough
against the defendant there would
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