Horse Killer Sues Cortland Evening Standard for Libel

Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, January 21, 1895.

A BRUTAL OPERATION.

A Horse Unmercifully Whipped Until it Died.

   At about dusk Saturday evening there was a scene upon the corner of Elm and Church-sts., which would seem to require the attention of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Howard Meacham of 50 N. Main-st was driving a horse up Elm-st, and was striking it unmercifully with a whip, at same time yanking it from side to side of the street with the reins. Suddenly the horse fell down and within a very few minutes died.

   Mr. F. P. Hakes of the firm of Davis, Jenkins & Hakes, was one of the witnesses to the disgraceful affair. He told a STANDARD reporter that he should think the man struck the horse twenty-five blows. He said that before Meacham finished there were eight or ten witnesses gathered about. A woman in front of him almost went into hysterics at the sight. An employee of The STANDARD job room saw the last of it. The man was whipping the horse furiously and yanking and jerking it back and forth. Suddenly the animal fell and then Meacham jumped from the sleigh and continued whipping and kicking it until it died. Meanwhile the air was fairly blue with profanity.

   It was also reported that the horse had been over driven during the day.

 

Cortland Evening Standard, Friday, September 18, 1896.

END OF A LIBEL SUIT.

HOWARD R. MEACHAM VS. CORTLAND STANDARD PRINTING CO.

Verdict of No Cause of Action—Every Charge Made by the Standard Fully Sustained.

   The libel suit of Howard R. Meacham vs. The Cortland Standard Printing Co.,  which had been on trial since early Tuesday afternoon,  was closed and the case given to the jury shortly after 6 o'clock Wednesday. The jury were instructed by the court, in case they agreed, to enclose their verdict in a sealed envelope and present the same at the opening of court at 9:30 o'clock the following morning. An agreement was reached after only a short consultation, the envelope was opened by the county clerk yesterday morning in the presence of the jury, and the verdict was found t o be "No cause of action." to which the jury assented, in the presence of the court.

   The complaint in this action charged the Cortland Standard Printing Co., as its first offense against Meacham, with falsely, maliciously and wickedly publishing of and concerning the plaintiff an article headed, "A Brutal Operation. A Horse Unmercifully Whipped Until it Died," and which described the beating and kicking by the plaintiff of his horse, on Elm-st. in this village, in January, 1895, until the animal was dead.

   This article the complaint charged was not only "false and malicious," but "tended to blacken and injure the reputation and credit of the plaintiff, and “to hold him up to public scorn and disgrace."

   The Standard company was also charged with further libels upon the plaintiff in the report which it published of his trial in police court, after he had been arrested on the charge of cruelty to animals, and on which trial he was acquitted; in its comments on the trial, and especially in its statement that "several of the jurymen were asked by a reporter upon what ground the man was acquitted, and not one of them could give a reason save that he was poor;" in publishing a letter from Mrs. M. E . Cowles of McGrawvllle characterizing in severe terms such conduct as Meacham had been guilty of, and declaring the failure to punish it, " a travesty of justice;" in publishing a report of remarks of Rev. Dr. Pearce at the First M. E. church, referring to "the scene of a poor horse beaten to death by an inhuman driver and his acquittal by a jury;" and last of all in publishing what was alleged to be an editorial reference to Meacham's conduct, intended to "charge Meacham with the crime of cruelty to animals, and that he should have been convicted of said crime, and that the failure of such conviction and his punishment therefore had ignored, defied and outraged law."

   The damages claimed for these various alleged libels were fixed at the modest sum of $6,000.  The complaint was signed by Mr. Nathan L. Miller as Meacham's attorney, who also defended him in police court, and was sworn to by Meacham himself.

   The defense set up by the Standard company to the charges made in the complaint was that the alleged libelous articles were true, and on the issue of their truth or falsity the trial was had.

   Before this action was brought, Mr. Miller addressed the Cortland Standard Printing Co. a letter, in closing which he made the following magnanimous offer and accompanying threat:

   If you will publish in both the Weekly [the Daily STANDARD was probably meant.—Ed.] and Semi-Weekly STANDARD, as conspicuously as you published the original articles, a full retraction of the charges that have been made in your paper against Mr. Meacham and the various comments thereon in the different issues between and including January 21st, 1895, and February 16th, 1895, Mr. Meacham will be satisfied; otherwise he will be compelled to resort to his legal remedies.

   This communication— which Mr. Miller stated was not for publication—we never condescended to notice, much less reply to. We are not in the habit of retracting the truth, even under the threat of a libel suit. And when such a suit is brought against us for a truthful publication, we shall set up the truth as a full defense, and shall exhaust every resource at our command in making the most vigorous fight possible. It is always our endeavor to publish nothing but the exact facts. If we fall or err in this, we stand ready to make every possible correction and retraction and to do full justice to any one whom we may unintentionally have injured. More than this, we will be grateful to any one who will call our attention to an error in statement, in order that we may correct it. But we propose never to be intimidated, or to pay damages where a party is not entitled to them.

   The STANDARD has not and never has had any grudge against Mr. Meacham; none of its editors even knew who he was at the time the first article concerning him was written; it sought to do him no injustice, and took every possible pains to ascertain the truth concerning his offense and his trial. We published what we did under a sense of duty, knowing that the matter was libelous if the statements contained in it were not true, and that a suit could be brought against us for it, but feeling that the horse-beating and failure of justice deserved the severest criticism, and that it would be cowardly and dishonorable for us to shrink from speaking of them as they deserved. The duty which we owed to common decency, humanity and the good name of this community, we proposed to discharge, and we did so.

   The Standard company having succeeded in this action is now entitled to judgment against Meacham for its costs and disbursements, and if he has not personal property enough to satisfy it, we will be entitled to a body execution against him; but as we have not now, and never have had, any desire to injure or oppress him, we shall not resort to any such measures to collect the judgment.

   We believe that this suit will be worth to us all it has cost in showing to the community the care which is taken to insure the accuracy of all matter which is published in The STANDARD, and in making clear to every one that after stating the truth we stand by it—libel suits or no libel suits. Judge Parker, at the request of the attorney for Meacham, charged the jury that our justification must be as broad as our charges. The testimony of the witnesses and the verdict of the jury, therefore, must show that every charge made by The STANDARD was proven and justified. It is easy to charge a newspaper with lying—it is not so easy to establish the charge in a court of record.

   Mr. Meacham, in his attempt to obtain damages from The STANDARD, has simply damaged his own reputation. Had he been satisfied with his acquittal at the hands of the police justice's jury, the verdict of that jury could always have been used as his vindication from t he charges made against him. Now both the truth of The STANDARD'S charges and the character and causes of the police court acquittal are fully established, not in justice's court but in the supreme court of the state of New York.

   The STANDARD is satisfied with the result of this suit. We hope that Mr. Meacham, his attorney and those associated, with them in the attack on us are equally satisfied.

    In this connection the STANDARD wishes to make its acknowledgments:

   To Judge Parker for the calm, dignified, able and impartial manner in which he presided at the trial, and for the clear, concise and admirable presentation of the law of libel which he made to the jury.

   To its attorney and counsel, Messrs. Mantanye and Kellogg, for the care, faithfulness, and thorough, effective, learned and vigorous manner in which the case was prepared, tried and placed before the jury.

   To the many witnesses, quite a number of them ladies, who, at considerable inconvenience and sacrifice to themselves, attended during the trial and related upon the stand the facts which constituted such a complete justification of the STANDARD'S course.

   To the jury of twelve men who gave their attention and careful consideration to the mass of evidence introduced, sifted the truth from falsehood, refused to be swerved from justice by any considerations of sentiment or sympathy, and did their duty and their whole duty as they saw it.

   And last, but by no means least, to the many good men and women of this community who have given us assurance of their sympathy and approval from the time the first article concerning Meacham appeared, and whose cordial congratulations on the outcome of the suit are fully appreciated.

   As we have said already, we took up this affair of the horse-beating, in the first place, as a duty which we owed to the community. We shall endeavor to discharge any future duties of the same kind, which may arise, with the same loyalty, with the same courage, and with an abiding assurance of public approval.