Walford v. The Herald Printing And Publishing Company
| Decision Date | 05 January 1893 |
| Docket Number | 16,185 |
| Citation | 32 N.E. 929,133 Ind. 372 |
| Parties | Walford v. The Herald Printing and Publishing Company |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
From the Bartholomew Circuit Court.
The judgment is affirmed.
W. J Beck, for appellant.
G. W Cooper, C. B. Cooper and W. W. Lambert, for appellee.
The question presented by the record and argument of counsel is the sufficiency of the appellee's answer in justification of the libel pleaded in appellant's second paragraph of complaint. In the lower court a demurrer to this answer was overruled, appellant excepted, refused to plead further, and has appealed from the judgment of the court upon such ruling.
It is earnestly contended that the justification does not plead facts from which the court can hold the entire charge to be true.
The substance of the publication complained of is that a Mrs Snyder, who was possessed of property and means of great value, was a member of the church of which the appellant was a minister, and she was believed by many to be of unsound mind, she being of a "peculiar temperament," and "there being in the family a strong taint of insanity;" that--in the absence of her husband--the appellant, with others, visited her at her home; that, in approaching the house, they hid out their vehicles, and, when in the house, they closed the doors and drew down the blinds "to prevent suspicion, from persons passing, that any wrong was being accomplished," and remained there five hours; that by strong persuasion, and other means not so reputable, they induced her to make over to them, for the benefit of a certain college, twenty thousand dollars in cash and notes; that on the next morning they presented, at the bank, a check by Mrs. Snyder, for two thousand dollars, when "the disreputable game got its first set-back," from the refusal of the banker to pay the check, until the drawer's mental condition could be judicially determined that lawyers had been retained and steps taken to "head off the confidence men," and that there existed general "indignation over this attempt to rob the woman of her property, and on all sides the contemptible instruments of the confidence game are being soundly denounced."
The answer affirms the truth of the matter published, substantially in the language of the publication, excepting the part thereof which we have italicized, and, as to that part of the charge, the answer proceeds as follows:
"That the friends of Mrs. Snyder, and the public generally, were indignant at plaintiff's actions set forth, and said actions were ridiculous and dishonest, and rendered plaintiff the subject of public criticism and censure, and defendant says that the words charged in the complaint are true."
The appellant insists that the publication, in the language above italicized, charges him with an attempt to rob Mrs. Snyder of her money and notes, and that the answer is insufficient for its failure to allege facts which...
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Wolfard v. Herald Printing & Pub. Co.
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