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Show STATEMENT BY B. F.UMMINGS I To my friends In Cache Valley: !j H Sonio weeks ago I filed a libel suit j H against The Logan Republican. The j H circumstances lending up to this ac- f tlon, brlofly stated nro these: ' H In August, 1911, I leased the Week- Hi ly Roflex, a newspaper published by ! tho Reflex Publishing Co., a corpor- f IH fitlon at KaysvlIlO, Utah, and Its j H plant. About flvo months after tho H leaso was executed, vory much to my f surprlso thoro developed a dlsputo as H to the lessor's ownership of the news- paper press and the linotype mach. 1 jHfl Ine which wero Included In the plant ' jH and comprised fully 85 per cent ot 'i Its ' H Tho party who claimed to hold tho ' :Hfl legal title to tho press threatened to ' jH take it away from me forthwith un- M less I would pay the balance ot tno purchase price, about M00. This par- 1 H ty Informed mo that the press had 'Ll been delivered to the Reflex Pub'llsh- , H lng Co., under a contract wntch con- ILl f erred this right, and which forbado H the company to lease It, and that my aBJ leaso was lnhlld so far as tho press 1 M wns concerned. I I declined to operate longer under i'LI the lease, claiming that It was Inval- M Id and fraudulent. In It the lessor In HI terms claimed to own tho press and M tho linotype machine but his owner- H ship was disputed as to both. H Whllo operating the plant, I had Hi purchased with my own funds, sev- H oral hundred dollars worth ot print. H Ing materials, etc., which wero con- H talned In tho Roflex building. A dls- ' Hi put6 ns to tho validity ot the lease H arose. Mr. John S. Whlto and Mr. i H LeRoy Sholby, president and vlco H I president, respectively, ot the Reflex H Publishing Co., threatened to attach H I my personal property In the Reflex Hi building. Hi This threht was made on Saturday ' H On tho following Monday, during ' HJ usual business hours, In the view ot H Continued on page five. 'H STATEMENT BY B, F. (MINGS i Continued frcn page one many persons nnd with no thought of secrecy, 1 removed my belongings from the Reflex building. All were taken nt one load, nnd the wagon box wns only partly nilcd. This wns January Jan-uary 15, 1912. At the request of a mnjorlty of tho directors of the He-' flex Publishing Co., I Issued the next number of the Keflex and then surrendered sur-rendered tho paper nnd plant to the company. In' tlfe following issue, gotten out by John S. White nnd LeRoy Shelby, Shel-by, appeared a highly sensatlona. article, charging In effect that I had In tho night time, and on Sunday night nt that, looted the Reflex building build-ing nnd removed from It, "several express loads" of property belonging to tho Reflex Publishing Co. The evident evi-dent purpose of tho article waB to convey the Impression that I waa nn abandoned If not n dangerous criminal; crimi-nal; I promptly brought suit for libel against the company and ngalnsl White and Shelby, the authors of the libelous article and the case wns tried -In 'tho latter part of March last In Farmlngton, before n Jury who wero total strangers to me. The Jury awarded me $100 actual, hnd $200 punitive damages, $300 In nil, the $200. being In the nature of a fine -for publishing whnt tho Jury evidently regarded as n criminal libel li-bel on me. Shortly after the libelous article appeared In tho Reflex, It wns reproduced repro-duced In the Lognn Republican. Much of my llfo has been spent In newspaper work and I am prepared to give- nnd take, In ordinary news-paper news-paper warfare, without ciierlsblng personal animosities while so doing; but when any newspaper publishes , a charge which Imputes moral turpitude turpi-tude ngnlnst me, or nsshlls my personal per-sonal Integrity, n situation entirely outsldo of ordinary newspaper war i faro is created, nnd It becomes my duty tOi seek vindication. I felt this to bo 48Pecla"y 80 'n Cache valley, whero used to live, and where 1 I hhvo a .host of friends, relatives nnd . acquaintances. This Is why I brought I a libel suit against The Logan Republican. Re-publican. The suit was filed and wsb later dismissed by me on learning the ren' facts connected with tho reproduction of the libelous nrtlclo In The Logan Republlchn and tho courtesy extended extend-ed by tho latter paper In according me spa'co to make this brief explnnr.- I tlon. B. F. CUMMINGS |