81 Iowa 60 | Iowa | 1890
The indictment on which defendant was tried and convicted is as follows: “The grand jury of the county of Clinton, in the name and by the authority of the state of Iowa, accuse E. W. Conable of the crime of libel, committed as follows: The said E. W. Conable, on the third day of November, A. D. 1888, in the county aforesaid, being a person of an envious, vicious, evil and wicked mind, and wickedly, maliciously and unlawfully contriving and intending as much as in him lay to injure, oppress and vilify the good name, fame, credit and reputation of Walter I. Hayes, a citizen of the state of Iowa, and at that time, and now, a member of the fiftieth congress of the United States of America for the second congressional district of the state of Iowa, and at that time a candidate for re-election as a member of the fifty-first [congress of the United States from said district, and to bring him into contempt, infamy and public hatred, and to deprive him of the benefits of public confidence, and to defame, asperse, scandalize and vilify the character of said Walter I. Hayes, and to insinuate and cause it to be believed that the said Walter I. Hayes had been guilty of gross misconduct in his said office of member of congress as aforesaid, and that he had, as such congressman, corruptly received money, or attempted so to receive it, in consideration of recommending some person for appointment as postmaster at Wilton, in said congressional district, and that he was thereby an unfit person to be re-elected to said office, did unlawfully and maliciously, wickedly and scandalously, compose, write, print and publish, and did cause and procure to be composed, written, printed
“ ‘ THE ATTEMPTED SALE OE THE WILTON POSTOEEICE.’
“ ‘A great deal of discussion has been indulged in of late, through the second district, and especially in Mus-catine county, regarding an alleged attempt on the part ■of Congressman Hayes [meaning Walter I. Hayes ] to sell the Wilton, Muscatine county, postoffice for five hundred dollars. It is claimed there are several witnesses to the transaction, and no doubt there are [meaning there were witnesses to a transaction in which said Walter I. Hayes attempted to corruptly sell the position of postmaster at Wilton, in said congressional district ]'; but for fear that an exposure would have a damaging effect on the Muscatine, democratic county ticket, those who hold the proofs of guilt [meaning guilt upon the part of said Walter I. Hayes in selling ■or attempting to sell the postoffice at Wilton], in the •shape of correspondence, etc., are reticent about giving the evidence to the public. But the facts are generally known, and are the- subject of universal comment among Muscatine citizens. It is not at all strange that Hayes should traffic in matters of this kind. It would not be because he possessed any conscientious scruples against doing such a thing that he would refrain, but simply for fear of being found out. In the case at hand, however, he seems to have given little thought as to consequences, trusting, no doubt, to his ability to bulldoze the thing through. The five hundred dollars once in his pocket [meaning that said Walter I. Hayes had received or 'attempted to obtain five hundred dollars for a sale of the postmastership of said Wilton], then he, would •trust to luck for means wherewith to deceive the people.
“And the grand jury aforesaid, upon their oath, do further present that, at the time the said B. W. Conable so wrote, printed and published the said false, scurrilous, scandalous and malicious, defamatory libel, the same was false, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state of Iowa.”
It was the duty of the district court, in the exercise of a sound discretion, to decide the matter of' the petition, when fully advised, according to the very right of
The appellant contends that the matter set out in. the indictment, and alleged to be libelous, was privileged, and, in order to make out a case, it was necessary for the state to allege that the matter was false, and that defendant did not, and had no reasonable cause to, believe it to be true. The indictment charges that the matter in question was false, and that it was written and published by defendant maliciously, wilfully and for an unlawful purpose. If the matter was privileged as claimed, that was a matter of defense which the defendant was entitled to prove. If the averments of the indictment are true, then defendant is guilty of the crime charged, unless, by reason of exceptional circumstances, he was justified in composing and publishing the alleged libel. But, as a general rule, it is not necessary, even in the case of statutory exceptions, for the indictment to show that the accused does not come within the provisions of the exception. Wharton, Crim. PI. & Pr., sec. 238; 10 Amer. & Eng. Encyclopedia Law, 578; State v. Stapp, 29 Iowa, 551. Nor does the indictment show on its face that the alleged libel is privileged matter. If it had been true in fact, the defendant would not have been authorized to publish it for that reason alone. It must have been published with good motives and for justifiable ends. Code, sec. .4099. The indictment charges that the motives were bad, and the ends desired to be accomplished unlawful.
VIII. Numerous questions in regard to the rulings on the admission of evidence, and the charge of the court and instructions refused, are discussed by counsel, which we need not specially mention. We have examined all the questions thus presented, and find no error prejudicial to defendant. The charge of the court is quite full and favorable to him. The judgment of the court is, therefore, aeeikmed.