State v. Kountz
| Decision Date | 17 October 1882 |
| Citation | 12 Mo.App. 511 |
| Parties | STATE OF MISSOURI, Respondent, v. WILLIAM J. KOUNTZ, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
1. The publication of one copy of a newspaper within the jurisdiction is sufficient to complete the offence of publishing a libel.
2. If the defendant causes a copy of a newspaper to be sent to the city where the person libelled resides, and the paper is read by persons into whose hands it thus comes, this is a publication of a libel.
3. No inuendo is necessary to explain the word “defaulter,” used in a publication to express a disqualification for an office of trust.
APPEAL from the St. Louis Court of Criminal Correction, CADY, J.
Affirmed.
JOHNSON, LODGE & JOHNSON, for the appellant.
M. W. HOGAN and J. C. NORMILE, for the respondent.
The defendant was convicted under an indictment for causing to be printed and published a criminal libel in these words: “Captain John was elected harbor-master of St. Louis, and could not qualify because he was a defaulter.” The words appeared in an editorial article about Captain John W. Carroll, in the Allegheny Evening Mail, a newspaper published in the state of Pennsylvania. The testimony tended to prove that the manuscript from which the article was printed was in the handwriting of the defendant; that accompanying it was a note in the same handwriting, requesting its insertion by one person having a business connection with the newspaper, without informing another person having a similar connection, of the authorship, and saying that the writer would furnish a list of persons to whom marked copies of the paper should be sent; that, at a time prior to the publication, the defendant promised to send the paper regularly to Silas Adkins, a witness, residing in the city of St. Louis, and that thereupon the paper was regularly received by Adkins for several years, up to and after the publication of the alleged libel; that the paper containing the alleged libel was so received in St. Louis by Adkins, who read the article and showed it to the prosecuting witness and others.
It is contended that there was no sufficient connection of the defendant with any publication of the libel in St. Louis to confer jurisdiction of the alleged offence. It may be true that no presumption of circulation in Missouri can be indulged, on general principles, as to a newspaper published in Pennsylvania. But the publication of a single copy within the jurisdiction may complete the offence, as well as that of a thousand. There was at least competent...
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State ex rel. Broatch v. Moores
...83 Ky. 219.) References as to question of default: People v. Hamilton, 24 Ill.App. 613; State v. Hastings, 37 Neb. 97; State v. Kountz, 12 Mo. App., 511; State Hunnicut, 34 Ark. 564. NORVAL, J., IRVINE, C. POST, C. J., RYAN, C., and HARRISON, J., concurring. RAGAN, C., dissenting. OPINION T......
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State ex rel. Broatch v. Moores
...citizen to hold office depend upon mere pecuniary liability to the state.” State v. Sheriff, 45 La. Ann. 163, 12 South. 189. In State v. Kountz, 12 Mo. App. 511, the defendant was convicted of the offense of publishing a libel in these words: “Captain John was elected harbor master of St. L......
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Farmers Bank of Deepwater v. Ogden
...entrusted. "It describes one whose peculations have brought him within the cognizance of the law." [2 Words & Phrases, 1930; State v. Kountz, 12 Mo.App. 511.] In the sense used, the word does not mean an act which may be merely a "default," or "fault," or "offense," even though the offense ......
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Farmers' Bank of Deepwater v. Ogden
...intrusted. "It describes one whose peculations have brought him within the cognizance of the law." 2 Words and Phrases, 1930; State v. Kountz, 12 Mo. App. 511. In the sense here used, the word does not mean an act which may be merely a "default," or "fault," or "offense," even though the of......