The Tomahawk., 1919-12-04
ME|NTSLOSES CASE.
FOR MOB DAMAGES
Luyerne Man Brought 100000
Suit-WiIl Appeal to .m.
vt<.s Higher Court. >.s@
PROTECTION CLAIM HELD.
PROTECTION CLAIM HELD.
Defense Pleads That Mobbin9 was TO
Protect Victim-"Bandits" 'den-
titled BY Meints Do Tar
~ and Feath ring.

charge to the jury by United
States district judge Wilbur +.
Booth probably caused John
Meints to lose his damage case
here against 80 alleged mobbers.
Meints was taken from his
home near ,Luve r,e, Minny on &
AUGUST 10, 1918, tarred and
featt,ered, and, then deported
across the state line. .t., ,'---.'r
H. Judge Booth accepted the de-
fendant's absured plea that they
intended to protect Meints, and
also emphasized the claim that
Meints went willingly although It
was obvious that one man could
not Offer physical resistance and,
although Meints' son was injured
and his wife mistreated in the
affair.
The case will be appealed to
HIGHER court. On the alleged er-
rors in. the charge and in de-
cisions on testimony.
The mob violence against Meints
was the elimination Of an attempt TO
outlaw the Nonpartisan league In
Rock county. Farmers were unlaw'
fully ordered to sign statements re-
nouncing the league and several VINO
stood for their rights were deported
across the Iowa line. Meints was not
an active far mer and consequently
not q league member, but he had an
tagonized the county ring by sub
scribing $50 to farmer owned paper
ut the county seat.
Mob "Protectlon."
A mob of ;.bout 100 traced Meints
to his son 3 farm and seized him there.
At the trial some of the participants
alleged that they did this to protect
Meints but the plaintiff proved that
none of them had notified the lawful
authorities of this mythical danger.
Before the mob guarding" Meints
reached the Dakota line, it was met
by "bandits" who held up the party
and took Meints away. He was tarred
and feathered and beaten with rope
by the bandits"
In his own testimony Meints identi-
fled five prominent citizens of Luverne
us comprising the bandit party among
them local minister
Politicians Active.
During the following months many
indications showed that politicians OF
the Twin Cities we're. actively con-
cerned in protecting the illegal, brutal
acts of the Rock county ring. No
serious effect was made by the state
to punish the guilty, and federal ac-
tion was mysteriously delayed. The
indications were further substantiated
when Pierce Butler, notoriously the
legal man Friday Of the special inter-
ests of the Twin Cities, appeared as
chief counsel for the alleged 'mobbers.
Butler, a past master at legal trick
cry and soft speaking. was allowed to
make frequent patriotic" speeches
the object OF which was to make mob
violence appear as excess patriotism.
Testimony at the court showed that
the Meints family came from Schles-
wig Holstein, j the Danish province
taken from Denmark by Germany in
1866, that this was in large part the
cause OF the family's removal to this
country, and that Meints had per-
sonally favored our declaration war.
He had been generous buyer Of
Liberty bonds and contributor to the
Red Cross. The 1nobbers, therefore,
had no other motive than the political
one OF maintaining machine rule in
Minnesota.
The Jury was out only two hours.
The only question the II men had to
decide under Judge A,ooth's instrue-
tions was the identity Of the four men
who had tarred and feathered Meints.
Ihlan, Connel1, Leas and Bedford de-
MED participation in the outrage. 1t
was their word against that Of Meints
"a "preponderance of evidence"
They offered alibis to prove they
were somewhere. else when the out
rage on Meints was committed. "a
In addition, the wealthy defendants
found two men-Nels Hawkinson and
Albert Olson--who testified under
oath that they had seen Neints on the
train to Sioux Falls the morning Of
August 20 and that Meints showed no
evidence Of having been tarred and
feathered. The testimony Of Hawkin-
son and Olson was counted on to dis
prove the testimony of the Sioux Falls
barber, who told OF Meints' condition
when Meints came into the barber
shop Immediately after stepping OF
the train.
The old syndicate which formerly
nF