People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1893 — THE SLANDER SUIT. [ARTICLE]

THE SLANDER SUIT.

Mr, Edi.tor —Your comments show a leaning in favor of the defendant. The article seems to indirectly reflect on the good name and fame of Mr. Huffman Keen, an old settler of Jordan township, and the members of his family. We care not whether the bystanders arrayed themselves in favor of the right or the wrong side in that trial. It is a reflection on the honesty of the jury to say that their verdict was returned merely to throw costs. It reflects on the court to say that it favored the defendant. It is a reflection on Mr. Keen’s standing to say that he could not get a resident of Jordan township to sustain his good reputation for truth. We closely observed all that occured during that trial and these are the true facts: The defendant did show ' that his friends had also helped defame the plaintiff’s character by whispering various falsehoods in credulous ears. The defendant admitted the authorship of the words which you well say were too filthy to publish. He plead their truth and swore to his plea. The jury found that his statement, plea and oath were each false. Every attack made on a witness in his absence was led by the defendant to well merited defeat. The court permitted the defendant to introduce thirteen witnesses touching the character of Huffman Keen -for ' truth. He mustered the thirteen, including himself, his mother and residents of Rensselaer, Mt. Ayr and Goodland. The plaintiff met this attack by seven of his nearest neighbors and closest acquaintances, nearly all of whom now live in Jordan township, as well as six others living in Rensselaer and Goodland. The jury sustained Mr. Keen. The Judge was impartial and the verdict leaves a slanderer rebuked and truth triumphant. •Observer.