Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1919 — FORD CLEARED; NOT ANARCHIST [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FORD CLEARED; NOT ANARCHIST

JURY IN FAMOUS LIBEL BUIT FINDS FOR PLAINTIFF AND DECLARES TRIBUNE GUILTY. DELIBERATE TEN HOURS Farmer Jury Which Has Spent Three Months In Court Is Out Ten Hours and Then Finds Paper Guilty of Libel. Mt Clemens, Mich. —Henry Ford is not an anarchist! A Jury of 12 farmers have said so by their verdict, in which they found The Chicago Tribune guilty of libel when it attached that stigma to the name of the great manufacturer. "We find the Chicago Tribune guilty and attach a verdict of six cents.’’ This sentence from the < foreman of the jury which for three months has listened to the most famous case of Its kind in history and which debated more than 10 hours befofie it arrived at its conclusion, were the lines of the final act in the dramatic event which has attracted the attention of the entire country ( Henry Ford himself was not in court to share in the triumph. He was in the New Hampshire woods with his friends, Thomas Edison and John Burroughs. Judge Alfred J. Murphy of Mr. Ford’s counsel made a formal statement for his principal: “The important issue has been determined,” said Judge Murphy. “Money •damages were not sought by Mr. Ford.

Ha stands not only vindicated but his

attitude as an American citizen has been justified after a trial which raised every issue against him that Ingenuity and research could invent.” Outside the courthouse crowds had gathered during the evening hours td await news of the jury which had been closeted in conference since morning. As the courtroom emptied after the announcement of the verdict and the news of the decision rendered spread, cheer after cheer broke forth and a band, returning from a picnic, stopped to add its brass notes to-the din. There was a tense moment when the jurors filed Into the box for the last time. Their foreman, In a voice shaking with the emotions of the moment, spoke in such a low tone that he could scarcely be heard. The clerk read back the formal verdlot: “You do say upon your oath that the said defendant The Tribune company, is guilty In the manner and form as the said plaintiff hath In his declaration In this case complained against him and you assess the damages of the said plaintiff on occasion of the premises over and above his costs and charges by him about this suit and In his behalf expended, at the sum of six cents damages." The editorial in which The Tribune attacked Henry Ford and branded him as an anarfihist was printed in 1916. The case has been fought through several courts on one point or another ever since, finally arriving through a change of venue asked by The Tribune in Mt. Clemefis. ' Tho charge which Judge Tucker made to the jury dealt mainly with the laws of libel and contained among others, the following points: “The Tribune claims that they carefully inquired as to what Mr. Ford’s attitude was going to be as to the care of his men who joined the national gdard and that they based the editorial characterizing him as an anarchist on that information. They admit the publication and insist that it was true and therefore justified; and that even if not true it was fair comment upon a matter of public interest, either of which defenses are sufficient if proven true. The burden, however, is upon the defense when they attempt to make either of the defenses | mentioned. They must establish either the truth of the charge made, or that it was comment within the meaning of that teem. “A newspaper has the saine right as an individual to its opinions and convictions —no more and no less." The court further informed the jury that if they found that the charge was

tintrue they must find for the plaintiff. Be declared that there wee nothing ambiguous about the editorial, it •ailed Mr. Ford an anarchist and the only way the defendant could escape being found guilty of libel was to prove that charge. He said further that the jury most accept the popular conception of the meaning of the term ••anarchist.’’ Ooaneel tor The Chicago Tribune made no effort to appeal the case and accepted the verdict as it stood.

HENRY FORD