Campbell v. Irwin

• Citation: 146 Ind. 681, 45 N.E. 810
• Case Date: February 02, 1897
• Court: Supreme Court of Indiana

146 Ind. 681
45 N.E. 810

CAMPBELL
v.
IRWIN.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Feb. 2, 1897.

Appeal from circuit court, Montgomery county; James F. Harney, Judge.

Action for slander by Edna Campbell against Mary I. Irwin. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

M. E. Clodfelter, for appellant. M. W. Bruner and Crane & Anderson, for appellee.

JORDAN, C. J.

Appellant, an unmarried woman, sued the appellee in an action for slander, wherein she demanded damages for the alleged wrong in the sum of $5,000. The complaint is in three paragraphs, each containing three sets of words upon which the alleged slander is based. By innuendoes and averments, it is charged that the defendant, on the several occasions mentioned, by speaking and publishing the words set out therein, imputed to the plaintiff the crime of fornication with one Dr. S. G. Irwin; that she so meant and intended to impute said crime to the plaintiff, and was so understood

[45 N.E. 811]

by the persons in whose presence the words were spoken. The complaint was held sufficient by the court upon demurrer, and the appellee filed her answer in two paragraphs, the first being a general denial. The second purports to be in justification, and was held to be sufficient as such on demurrer. Under the issues joined, a trial by jury resulted in a verdict for the defendant, and judgment was rendered in her favor for costs.

Among the errors assigned, the action of the court in overruling appellant's demurrer to the second paragraph of the answer is called in question. This paragraph is as follows: “Par. 2. The defendant, for further cause of defense herein, alleges that she admits the speaking of the words set out in the complaint, but she says that Dr. S. G. Irwin has been keeping and running the plaintiff for a long time; that Dr. S. G. Irwin did have plaintiff locked up in his back office for bad purposes, and was criminally intimate with her, and plaintiff did have criminal intercourse with Dr. S. G. Irwin, and she is not a virtuous woman; that plaintiff did send for Dr. S. G. Irwin at Alamo; and that he did go when it was pouring down rain, when he would not have gone across the street to see any other patient. So the words charged in the complaint are true, and defendant demands judgment for costs.” By section 285, Rev. St. 1881 (section 286, Rev. St. 1894), every charge of incest, fornication, adultery, or whoredom falsely made against a female is actionable in the same manner as are slanderous words charging a crime,...