Rowan v. Gazette Printing Co.

Decision Date10 October 1925
Docket Number5743.
Citation239 P. 1035,74 Mont. 326
PartiesROWAN v. GAZETTE PRINTING CO. et al.
CourtMontana Supreme Court

Appeal from District Court, Carbon County; S.D. McKinnon, Judge.

Action by C. C. Rowan against the Gazette Printing Company and another. Judgment of nonsuit, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

John G Skinner, of Red Lodge, and Shea & Wiggenhorn, of Billings for appellant.

Sterling M. Wood, of Billings, and I. W. Choate, of Helena, for respondents.

MATTHEWS J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of nonsuit entered in an action for libel based upon an article published in the "Billings Gazette" on the 4th day of October, 1922.

In the trial court, and here, plaintiff elected to "stand or fall" on his declaration that the article published is "libelous per se." The only question for our determination, therefore, is: Does the published article contain a libel actionable per se?

The publication reads:

"Officers Stage Raid-Met with Open Arms.

Assistant Attorney General Cotter and Party Motor to Red Lodge and Find Suspected 'Joints' Open and Ready to Stand Inspection.

Contemplating a big raid and clean up of alleged bootlegging and vice conditions in the city of Red Lodge, state prohibition enforcement officers, headed by Assistant Attorney General Charles P. Cotter and the Rev. Joseph Pope of Billings, secretary of the Anti-Saloon League, swooped down on the Carbon county seat Monday evening and found nothing. The officers declare they were double-crossed.

Pope Tells Story.

The story of the raid and its failure is told by Mr. Pope and others of the party substantially as follows:

Four agents of Attorney General Rankin's law enforcement department went into the Red Lodge community unbeknown to any of the county officials of that county and gathered evidence against 18 'joints' and information against 20 or more persons.

Then Assistant Attorney General Cotter came to Billings a few days ago and began preparing this data and getting out warrants against the alleged violators. He was assisted in his work by Mr. Pope and county attorney E. E. Collins. When all was in readiness, Carbon county's prosecutor, Mr. Rowan, was summoned by Mr. Cotter to come to Billings 'on important business.' Mr. Rowan came. But when the informations and evidence were shown him and the plans of the raid were outlined to him, he seemed to be distinctly displeased, said Mr. Pope, and flatly refused to sign the warrants or informations, and told the Assistant Attorney General that he would resign as county attorney that afternoon. Mr. Rowan left the group, said Mr. Pope, and was gone for a considerable time. When he returned, he told Mr. Cotter that he was willing to go ahead with the search warrants, according to the Anti-Saloon League leader.

So the party started from Billings Monday afternoon in automobiles. In the party were Mr. Cotter, Mr. Rowan, Mr. Pope, Mr. Collins, Deputy Sheriffs Bert Howard, George Mikels, Forrest Young, and Ed O'Donnell, two Carbon county ministers, the Rev. A. C. Bear, of Fromberg, and the Rev. H. E. Chapple, of Bridger, and two agents of the law enforcement department.

On reaching Red Lodge, according to members of the party, they found the suspected 'joints' thrown wide open, with safes and cabinets within also wide open, and the proprietors sitting on the curbs, awaiting them. The officers gleaned the information that one of the suspected men sprained his back in hurriedly moving a barrel of whisky, they said. A girl in a restaurant told Deputy Sheriff Mikels that a tip had come in the morning and that if the raiders had arrived earlier they would have made a big haul. A man named Smith was said to have told one of the officers that he received two tips, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

It was learned when the party returned to Billings that the copies of the informations, that had been signed by District Judge A. C. Spencer, had been left lying on a desk in county attorney Collins' office, according to Mr. Collins and Mr. Pope. These papers legally should be on file in the district court of Carbon county, it was said."

In his complaint, after setting out the article in full, plaintiff employed more than 450 words by way of innuendo in an attempt to show wherein the publication charged that plaintiff was the person...

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