Commonwealth v. Wardwell

• Citation: 136 Mass. 164
• Parties: Commonwealth v. Burnham Wardwell
• Decision Date: 04 December 1883
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

136 Mass. 164

Commonwealth v. Burnham Wardwell

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

December 4, 1883

[Syllabus Material] [Syllabus Material]

Worcester. Indictment, alleging that the defendant, on September 7, 1882, at Worcester, "contriving and unlawfully and maliciously intending to injure, vilify, and prejudice one Augustus B. R. Sprague of Worcester," "and to deprive him of his good name, fame, credit, and reputation, and to bring him into great contempt, scandal infamy, and disgrace, he the said Sprague being then and there sheriff of our said county of Worcester, and also the keeper of the jail and house of correction at Worcester aforesaid, unlawfully and maliciously did publish, and cause and procure to be published, a false, scandalous, malicious, and defamatory libel, containing divers false, scandalous, malicious, and defamatory matters and things of and concerning the said Augustus B. R. Sprague." The indictment then set forth the libel, the material parts of which were as follows:

"In the name of humanity I feel called on to prefer charges against A. B. R. Sprague, sheriff and jailer, Worcester county, Massachusetts. 1. I charge him with being an untruthful man. 2. I charge him with being a profane man. 3. I charge him with being a common drinker of intoxicating liquors. 4. I charge him with treating prisoners placed under his charge cruelly, wickedly, shamefully. 5. I charge him with being a libertine, even making the jail a place of prostitution. 6. I charge him with ruining a young and innocent Worcester lady. 7. I charge him with boasting of the influence of his office, money, and friends being sufficient to crush any one who should attempt to expose him. 8. I charge him with employing men as officers who are untruthful, bad men. 9. I charge him, or any other man, with being a coward, who will draw a pistol on a virtuous Christian lady, in the presence of men and women, for no cause other than exposing him in a crime which would send him to the state prison as a criminal. Some, or I will say many, of the acts of cruelty committed in Worcester county jail have been most cruel, even ruinous to the health of prisoners. As to the management of the property of the county, I am told he is neither honest or prudent. I, however, care nothing about property. I have met one young man who was ruined in health for life in consequence of bad treatment in Worcester county jail under Sheriff Sprague, and hear of many others who have been badly treated. I make these charges perfectly free from anger towards Sheriff Sprague or any human being."

The indictment concluded as follows: "The letters and word 'A. B. R. Sprague,' in said libel, meaning the said Augustus B. R. Sprague. The said Burnham Wardwell then and there well knowing the said defamatory libel to be false, to the great scandal and disgrace of the said Augustus B. R. Sprague."

In the Superior Court, before the jury were empanelled, the defendant moved to quash the indictment, for the reason that the publication alleged to be libellous referred to Sprague only in his official capacity, and the allegations of the indictment referred to him in his private capacity. Gardner, J., overruled this motion; and the defendant excepted.

At the trial, the government introduced evidence tending to show that the defendant, who was then a resident of Worcester, caused the alleged libel to be printed and circulated in Worcester.

The government called Sprague as a witness, who testified that he was first appointed sheriff of Worcester county in June, 1871, and had held the office ever since; that he had been jailer and keeper of the house of correction in Worcester for the last seven years, during which time he had lived with his family at the jail.

On cross-examination, he testified that the next election for sheriff would be at the general election in November, 1883; that he could not say whether he would be a candidate for reelection in 1883; and that he would not disclaim his intention of being a candidate.

The defendant asked the judge to rule that, taking the fair meaning of the whole publication, the charge related to Sprague in his official capacity; that, as the allegations of the indictment referred to him in his private capacity, the evidence did not tend to prove the charges; and that, upon a fair meaning of the words thereof, no malice could be presumed in law.

The judge refused to rule as requested, and ruled that the indictment set out a libel against Sprague in his individual and private capacity, and not in his capacity as sheriff or jailer of the county, and that the allegation that he was such officer was merely descriptive; that those charges in the alleged libel relating to the misconduct of Sprague in his official capacity should be stricken out and excluded from the consideration of the jury, this ruling excluding the fourth and eighth charges, and the following sentences "Some, or I will say many, of the acts of cruelty committed in Worcester county jail have been most cruel, even ruinous to the health of the prisoners. As to the management of the property of the county, I am told he is neither honest or prudent. I, however, care nothing about property. I have met one young...