this court-decision at a public meeting in the State capitol in Denver, and again at a dinner of the Progressive Party workers in Chicago—saying: "I don't know whom the magistrate supposed I had threatened, abused and insulted—unless perhaps it were John D. Rockefeller, Junior!" The audience had laughed appreciatively; they thought that was a funny joke; I, too, thought it was a funny joke. But now—can you believe it?—Justice Crain of the Court of General Sessions handed down his august decision, which had cost me several hundred dollars in lawyer's fees and court costs to obtain; and this Daniel come to judgment upheld the decision of Police-magistrate Sims, and gave his reasons therefor—and lo, his reasons were my funny joke! Seventeen thousand, five hundred dollars per year the people of New York State pay to Justice Crain of the Court of General Sessions, for handing down such august decisions; and forever and ever, so long as capitalist civilization endures, that particular august decision will be printed on expensive paper, and bound in expensive sheepskin, and treasured in the libraries of learned jurists. Such a wonder of a decision deserves to be read, as well as preserved in law-books; so I will quote it here, as follows:
No citizen has a right to rebuke another citizen by subjecting him
to ridicule or insult.
The defendant intended by his conduct in the presence of others to rebuke the conduct of Mr. Rockefeller. His action was in the language of the statute, abusive or insulting; abusive because it is derogatory to the one whose conduct is referred to, and the insult lies in part in the subject matter of the rebuke and in part in the publicity of the infliction.
Now let me put to you this problem. The "New York
Herald" had published a cartoon, in which I was portrayed as
a hideous monster with a filthy muck-rake; and now suppose
that I had appealed to Justice Crain of the Court of General
Sessions, complaining that James Gordon Bennett had "rebuked
a citizen" by "subjecting him to ridicule or insult"—do
you think that Justice Crain would have sent Bennett to jail?
And do you think that the newspapers would have printed
the decision with solemn and respectful comment, praising it
as a proper rebuke to a disturber of public order?
I close the story of this long Colorado struggle with a benediction sent to me all the way across the continent: the "Los Angeles Times," July 9th, 1914:
