137 N.W. 595 | S.D. | 1912
The complaint, alleging a malicious assault and battery, demands both actual and exemplary damages. It appears that the plaintiff, an attorney and counselor at law, who had resided in Centerville -for 14 years, on the night of the general election in 1908, entered a drug store in that town, in company with a friend, to procure cigars. Several gentlemen were in the store, including the defendant, all of whom were acquainted with both parties to this action. According to the plaintiff’s testimony, he was about to leave, when the defendant inquired how the election returns .suited- him. A discussion followed, in which the defendant accused the plaintiff .of inconsistent political conduct and having been- influenced by improper motives, and in which the defendant charged that the leaders of the Republican party in this state, to which -the plaintiff belonged, were dishonest, “Then something was said about people being honest again, and he says, 'Well, I am just as honest as any damned Bogue that I ever knew.’ I says, ‘Tinus, I don’t like to discuss personalities in 'a public place, but I -have my suspicions of 'a man going around talking about his own personal honesty,’ I said, ‘and especially a man who would take the witness stand and swear that a flas-hboard on a dam was 18 inches wide, when it was only 12 or less.’ And as soon as I said that he said, ‘Don’t you ever -say that again.’ I started in to reply, and did’t get ¡halfway through- the sentence when he jumped at me, and he hit me right on the left side of the
As malice may be presumed from the manner in which an assault is made, considered in the light of the surrounding circum
The judgment is affirmed.