The Bismarck tribune., 1920-12-06
).l Wis LAKE !
EDITOR HELD0N
LIBEL CHARGE
Mute Testifies That He Set
Some of Matter on
- ,s.s
Linotype
TYPE USED BY STATE

charges of having published in the
World office a few days before the
last election circular wherein a
number of Devils Lake businessmen
and two clergymen are alleged to
have been libeled. Austin's bail was
fixed at $1,000 by Police Magistrate.
D. G. Duell, before whom he was ar
raigned.
Besides Austin, Jacob Cantor, fore
man in the World mechanical depart
ment, and Leonard Sharf, are also
held for district court on similar
charges, with the amount of bail the
same in all cases. Cantor is charged
with having supervised the printing
<of the circular and Sharf with having
distributed it throughout the adjoin-
ing country.
A number of codefendants with
Austin were discharged by Magistrate
Duell for insufficient evidence"They
are Martin Hoghaug, said to be a
stockholder in the World corporation,
J. W. Smith, Nonpartisan county
manager, and Carl Aaberg, Eugene
and John Stoesser, charged with hav-
ing circulated the circular. -.
Made Vicious Charges
The circular which led to the ar
rest of Austin and the other defend
ants was distributed two days before
elcctionN IT. implied that Edward F.
Flynn, president of the city COM
mission here, had received graft from
the 100000 paving Job the past sum-
mer; that Rev. II. Garfield Walker,
rector of the church of the Advent
had used indecent and vulgar Ian
guage in his addresses against the
NGnpartisan league; that A. B. Jack
son, Jr, secretary of the Bovey-Shutc
T. Jackson Lumber company had
shortweighed in coal; that the NDev-
lis Lake Journal was. yellow and
traitorous; that its managing editor,
e. F. Mccarthy, is "traitor-poet."
It insinuated that Rev. Prentiss Ho-
vey Case, pastor of the Westminster
Presbyterian church, had been driven
out of the state of Idaho by peace Of
ficers while talking against the Nom
partisan league, and it hurled epi
thets at Silver Serumgard, A. r.
Smythe, local lawyers, who had op-
POoCu luN lCd6uC, dHu Il NAdAH,
President Of the North Dakota Retail
Dealers associations
Deaf Printer on Stand
The most damaging witnessaagainst
Austin at the hearing yesterday was
Henry Morris, instructor at the Devils
Lake School for the Deaf, who is also
a linotype operator and is employed
occasionally by the Devils Lake
World. Morris, who can neither
speak nor hear, gave his evidence by
means of the sign language, which |
was interpreted by Principal Mcclure |
Of the deaf school. -. III
Morris testified that he set on the |
linotype machine in the World office |
the type used in the alleged libeious |
circular, and that while he was set
ting it, which was on Sunday, Oct |
21, Austin was there and knew
what was being set. : -
Austin, in an editorial in the World |
few days after election, denied en-
phatically that the circular was
printed in his office or that he ever
saw copy of it until it was shown |
him by Sheriff Ed Elliott, who served |
upon Austin a demand signed by
those mentioned in the circular, for a !
retraction of the libelous statements |
contained in it. "
Slugs Are Exhibited.
4. ]. McCann6n,fa al printer employed
by the World, testified that he had
resurrected from the office lead. cast
ing pot the linotype "slugs" from !
which the circular, was printed and !
turned them over to A. 4. Wheeler,
local attorney, who in turn gave them |
to States Attorney Rollo F. Hunt. Mr..
Hunt produced the slugs in court |
McCannon testified, however, that he |
was not in the World office when the |
circular was printed, but later he was
accused by Austin and Cantor, the |
foreman, of having stolen the sfugs |
, and turned them over to the states |
attorney for evidence He gave as
his excuse for taking the slugs out
of the office his desire to secure the
500 reward offered for evidence that
would lead to the arrest of the pub
fishers Of the circular, and he said
that he already has received half of
that reward. .. ,-...>...
William M. Anderson, attorney for
the defense, attempted to make Nc
Cannon say that he had set the slugs
up on the linotype machine himself,
but McCannOn denied emphatically
that he saw them until after he heard
OF the reward and that, searching for
evidence in the office, he found the
slugs in the metal pot: "a.
The defense refused to offer any
evidence, and the court denied Attor-
ney Andersons motion to dismiss
Austin, Cantor and Sharf, although
he consented to dismiss the other de-
PENDANTS, the evidence showing that
none of them were in the World Of
flee while the circular was being COM
posed and printed. 81
One Quit Distribution
Other witnesses were Carl Aaberg.
who testified that Sharf had handed
him bundle of the 'circulars, and
that he then turned them over to
William McGillis, who gave them to
Halvor Sanderson. Sanderson testi-
fled that he read one of them, after
he had given out several and was SO
shocked at the material in them that
he threw them away. Henry Rutton
testified he found one of them in his
rural delivery box a few minutes af-
ter he had seen Shaft in the neigh
borhood.
E. NJ. Crary, formerly publisher of