Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1877 — You May Dun by Postal Card. [ARTICLE]

You May Dun by Postal Card.

The Ban Francisco Chronicle thus explains tlie issue brought in that city against the sender of a dunning postal card: “A. Zehandalaar Avas examined before United States Commissioner O’Beirne on a charge of sending an indecent publication—a postal card—to E. G. Emmett, law' clerk in the office of C. T. Emmett, dunning him for an unpaid tailor bill. Mr. Emmett was asked if he did not owe the bill, but all objection Was made. Tlie District Attorney al'gued the card contained an innuendo that that the debtor was dishonest, by use of the following words: 4 Honest men pay tlieir tailors’ bills. He argued that an attempt Avas made to hold Emmett up to public ridicule. The language waß absolutely insulting. It was an illegitimate mode of collecting a debt. The object was to protect the postoffice from becoming the vehicle for conveying indecent and insulting communications. He considered any unbecoming language actionable. The defense claimed that there Avas nothing indecent on the card ; that any lady could read it without blushing. The Commissioner promptly ruled oi*t tlie evidence and dismissed tlie case, holding that the statute did not cover the ease. ”