The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-03-11

L. NJ. Crawford.
article complained of was published.
He said that the article did great
damage to the theater, leading the
public to believe it was dangerous and
unsafe. He made the assertion that
the Topeka State Journ- l had not said
anything about the condition of the
opera house prior to the time the
Crawfords quit advertising because the
advertising rate was increased. He
asserted the article w., malicious in a
sense in that it was reckless. He also
stated that the National Electrical
Code, to which the Grand wiring never
conformed, was without legal stand
ing and had no foundation under the
law.
Nothing to Conceal Says McKccver.
E. d. Mckeever. attorney for Mr..
MacLennan. went into the details Ct
the case at le- 9Th, telling the jury that
he had nothing to conceal and tina.
every effort would be made to bring
| out every fact.
This case is SO important to the
| people of Topeka that 1 am going t.
do something 1 rarely do McKeever
said. 81 am going to reaC to you from
| the answer fled to the plaintiffs petit
| ton, and then 1 am going to discuss
| the evidence to be introduced"
McKeever read from the answer IN
which it was set out that the article
| published was privileged and that it
was right to publish and also the duty
| of Mr.. MacLennan to publish all news
relating to the health and safety of the
| public. The full text of the, answer
| from which the attorney for the de-
PENDANT read to the jury will be found
elsewhere in this issue Of the Topeka
State Journal.
| McKeever asserted that the income
of the opera house depended upon the
| patronage of the public and said it was
the duty of the Amusement Syndicate
company to keep the house in the
highest degree of safety.
| He stated it would be shown the
| building was not kept in the highest
degree of safety. He said it would
| be shown that the wiring and fire
escapes had been allowed TO get into
poor condition: that the booth in
| which was installed highly inflamma BILE
moving picture material was not up to
| standard; that in some cases the wires
were not properly insulated and that
| in some cases ordinary telephone wires
were used for electric light wiring;
| that the stairways We're not properly
| equipped with hand rails; that on he
south side there was a stairway used
for fire escape that was made If
wood and was not substantial.
Duty to Warn Patrons.
!
| these conditions existed at the time
| the company was advertising an
| amusement affair that would draw
! large crowd of women and children
and that their lives would be in great
danger if they attended and a fire
broke out. He said it was the duty of
| Mr.. MacLennan to warn theepeople of
| these conditions.
| Ten days before the article telling
of the conditions of the theater was
pubHshed, an inspection of the opera
house was made by the department of
labor and industry of the state of Kan
sas and report of the findings was
given to the Crawfords. McKeever
| told the jury the evidence would
show. He said it also would be
shown that the Crawfords were ad-
Vlsed of the dangerous and defective
condition of the opera house in this
report. He said it would be shown
that the plaintiffs continued negligent
and refused to repair the building
In making his opening talk to the
| jury, Larimer, attorney for the plain
| tiffs, referred to the fact that the
| news article telling of the conditions
| of the theater was published in the
noon edition of the Topeka State Jour-
nal under big headlines in the same
column on the front page in which
| the news of the declaration of war
| was published. He said it would be
shown that in the home edition this
article was revised and new headlines
| written on it and that other changes
were made in the postscript edition.
Condemned as Dangerous.
In answer to this McKeever told the
jury it would be shown that the news
item about the opera house was in
serted in the ordinary and usual man
ner and was used Just as all impor-
tant news is by all the leading news
papers. He said that it was custom
airy to make changes in articles for
different editions OF the paper and
| that it would be shown the article
was among the most important news
items of the day on which it was
printed and that the prominence given
the article was justified.
| Mckeever said it would be shown
that re Grand Opera house was in
spected by the city electrical inspec-
tor and that the building was con-
demn-d as dangerous. He said it
would .e shown also that the people
of Topeka were in total ignorance of
these conditions until they were told
about them thru the news colum S
of the Topeke. State Journal. He said
the evidence would show that the de-
PENDANT had come to Topeka thirty
three years ago and taken over the To-
peka State Journal VIII IN it was al
| most defunct. how he had galvanized
it into life and how for all these years
it has stood for the good morals of the
city and has deavored to protect the
health and safety of the people on all
occc sions.
Other Topekans Stopped Advertising.
| He said evidence would be offered to
l,a. ms