Arizona republican., 1918-03-02
HARRIS AWARDED LIBEL DAMAGES
 IN SUM S6O0O

That. the reputation of Adjutant General Charles W. Harris had been oamaged in the sum of $6,0O0 was the verdict yesterday of nine mem- oers Of the jury of the F in the noel suit of the adjutant general against the Arizona Publishing com pdny, which had been on trial in Judge Stanfords court for two days. me action was based on a pub ilcatlon by The Arizona Republican on July 29 of last year of an ac- | count of the effort of Governor campbell to remove the adjutant general from office; of the sending ot a letter by the governor to the adJutant general requesting his res 1 lgnation, to take effect the follow | Ing August l. In the publication it was stated that the resignation had been immediately asked for on ac- count of certain reports and state 7~ments made by the adjutant general With reference to the strike situa- ton, and which reports had been characterized as seditious.'
 The defense relied largely on the truth of the publication, not that thv 1 reports were seditious, but that they nad been characterized as seditious, 1 py whom it was not stated, but as a matter of fact, by The Republican s informant, Malcolm Fraser, the pri- Vate secretary of Governor Campbell
 The complaint alleged that the publication was malicious and the efforts of the plaintiff were chiefly directed to the sustaining of tha, allegation, rather than to the estab- llshment of the fact that a libel had been committed.
 The witnesses yesterday were Dwight B. Heard, president and gen. eral manager of the Arizona Pub fishing company. and J. W. Spear editor of The Republican and tht writer of the publication complained of. Mir. Heard had no knowledge o1 the publication until he read it in The Republican. He said that his relations with the adjutant general had been pleasant, that he enter tained no ill-will against him and had never done so.
 MT. Spear said that the letter re- questing the resignation of Col Harris had been brought to The Re. publican office by MT. Fraser on the eve of it's publication, and that 1T reply to questioning as to the motive for the letter, MT. Fraser stated tha as the national guard was to bt mustered into the federal service or August 6, there would be no dutie. for the adjutant general to perform In reply to other questions, MT Fraser further said that the imme diate causes of the letter were "sedi tious' reports made by the adjutan general.
 | Hr @A- .N1 Aff AT was made by him to get into com munication with Colonel Harris tha night to secure a statement iron him, but was unable to do so: tha he was willing to publish at any tim statement by the adjutant gen eral, but he had never been re quested to do so.
 He said that his relations with tn adjutant general, both before an, since the publication, had been ex ceedingly friendly; that the publi cation was not made with a purpos to harm or annoy him, though tha might be an unavoidable effect 0 it; that the news published was re garded as of public interest, of in terest to both the friends and tn enemies of the adjutant general.
 There was introduced also a article in The Republican two day later in which the statement of tn adjutant general with reference | the letter of Governor Campbell ap peared. Another document that fig -ured in the evidence was a lette from Governor Campbell in reply t one from the adjutant general con corning a publication in the Arizon Star in which it was stated that tn reports made by the adjutant gen era1 to the governor had been char acterized by. the governor as sedi tious.' In this letter the governo stated that he himself had made n such characterization of any repol or statement by the adjutant genera and he was not aware that anyon connected with his office had done s'
 This letter, it was shown, had nc been brought to the knowledge ( the defense, and that as means vindication the plaintiff had made Il use of it.
 The last of the testimony was pl in a little before noon and in tl afternoon after two hours of argu ment the case was submitted to tt jury and three hours later the vel dict was returned