Evening star., 1927-11-19
'|MACKEy ACQUITTED
Of L|3EL|NC REID
No Malice Found in Saying
KIan Rejected Arlington
Candidate.
Be- stan Corresnondeut Of The star.


ARLINGTON COURTHOUSE. Va,
November H.. Crandall Mackey. for
mer commonwealth attorney. today
was tindicated in the Police Court of
Arlington County of the charge OF
knowingly and willfully" libein2
Hugh Reid, Delesate-elect to the state
Legislature, during the recent election
campaign
Arraigned before Police Judge Ilar-
ry Thomas. Mackey freely admitted
causing an article TO he published IN
the county paper charging that Rfld
had api,llt,, for membership in the ku
kluX Khan and had been rejected.
After hearing testimony from boih
defendant and plaintiff. Judge Thomas
dismissed the case on the ground that
evidence was lacking TO show that
Mackey had malioiously published the
article which Reid claimed, in court.
"had certainly in niured him. Consid-
erahle interest was attached Ia the
proceedings on account at The m
tenslty of the campaign and the ar-
tivity of the Nu kluX Khan in the
election
Reid was the regular Democratic
nominee opposed to Lewis y. Mac
Mahon. Republican, MarkeE had
brought out a field Of independent
cdHulO31GS. buItHS TIE tdliE1iSil
articles we're published listing all
h X. X. candidates Against Reid's
name a star was placed showing he
had been rejected from membership in
the Khan order.
Majority I'm Election.
Despite opposition to him. Reid was
said to have called a majoritN of the
164 votes which it is claimed is repre-
sented in the klan membership in the
county.
At the outset of the hearing today
before Judge Thomas. no attempt was
made by Mackcy To deny the charge
that he had caused the article to be
published in the Arlington Chronicle.
Il am willing to admit everything
Reid is going to say" declared
Naekey.
Commonwealth Attorney William
c. Cloth pointed out that the only
issue at stake was whether Mackey
had knowingly and wilfully" libeled
in his statement.
In support of his claim that he had
no such intention TO reflect on the
candidate. Mr.. Mackey offered in evi-
dence information he had received
from a man named William r. Hurd
10 the effect that Reid had applied for
jected because he is not a native born
American citizen. This information
Mackey stated he believed at the time
to have been obtained from the min
utes of the klan proceeding.
That's all / have to say" declared
Mackey. What l published was
based on what I believed were the
proceedings of the Klan. / had rot
the slightest intention of rejecting on
the character of Mr.. Reid. Hurting
a man politically is one thing and
hurting his character is another"
No Character Reflection.
Mackey declared further there was
no reflection cast on a mans char
acter simply by stating that he was
either member of the Khan or had
been rejected for membership.
During an interplay between de-
fendant and plaintiff Reid protested
sharply that Mackey could have
easily obtained the correct informa.
tion il he had telephoned him first
instead of telephoning the newspaper
reporters. .u.t <,x4 49,.
Mr.. Mackey made statement
damaging to me without attempting
to verify it and without disclosing in
it that he had gotten the information
from some other source. Wilfullness
appears in the very act ITSELF" he
declared.
In response to question as to
whether publication of the article had
hurt him, Reid retorted sharply, 1T
certainly does injure me-"
He reiterated in sharp tones that
1t was his duty to call me before
publishing that wild tale"
Judge Thomas made the statement
that the Virginia statutes, under
which the charges were brought
against Mackey. had never been
passed on in the Virginia courts.
Mackey cited a Pennsylvania case
sipilar to his own, which the
statutes set forth that a libel must
he knowingly and negligently' pub
lished before redress could be
The action against the defendant
in that case was dismissed for lack of
evidence to prove that he had known
and acted deliberately in making false
charges.
After Judge Thomas dismissed the
case both Mackey and Reid continued
TO discuss 1t in the courtroom before
a crowd of spectators Reid evidently
was not satisfied with the dismissal
and Mackey persistently claimed he
had no intention of casting any re-
fiection on the candidates character.
When the article was first published
during the campaign Reid caused a
warrant to be issued by Judge Bryan
Gordon of Potomac, who is said to be
a kIanSman