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Show ROOSEVELT TELLS THE STORV J OF HIS LIFE IN LIBEL Slfft l THEODORE ROOSEVELT ON TRIAL FOR LIBEL. Syracuse. N. Y., April 20 Theodore Roosevelt today went upon the witness wit-ness stand to defend himself in the suit for alleged libel brought against him by William Barnes. When the colonel's name was called he arose from his seat at the table occupied by his counsel and smilingly walked around to the witness wit-ness chair In reply to a question he said he was tho man who made the statement state-ment complained of. He added "I am a man 58 years old and have a wife and seven children. " Tells Story of Life. In reply to Questions by Mr. Bowers Bow-ers he told in a firm, clear voice the story of his early life. Then he sketched his political career. He told of his appointment on the civil service commission to the office of police commissioner of New York and assistant secretary of the navy. He then told of organizing with General ' Wood the rough rider regiment to participate in thp war with Spain. I 'I do not remember just where I : first met Mr Barnes, but I think it I was during my campaign for gover-I gover-I nor. I was introduced to him by the ' chairman of some committee in New i York." "Later In Albany I saw him many times. In 1 89! I had a number of conferences with him I had more with him than with any other of (he leaders except Mr. Piatt and Mr ', Odell At Odds With Barnes. "We had many political discussions Tor the most part they were in regard re-gard to the relations between myself and the leaders of the Republican organization, or-ganization, particularly Senator Piatt. There were certain issues between be-tween us two. Piatt was known as the boss of the organization, which controlled the majority of the Re-! Re-! publican members of tho legislature. who sometimes co-operated with the I Democrats We were at odds particularly particu-larly over legislative matters " The witness added that he also dis-cussed dis-cussed legislative matters with Mr. Barnes. "Did you talk to Barnes about canal ca-nal matters at any time?" Counsel Ivlns Objects. Mr Ivins objected to the question on the ground that it was incompetent incompe-tent and Irrelevant. He was upheld. "Did you discuss the proposed franchise tax'.'" asked Mr Bowers. Mr Ivins was on his feet In an instant in-stant with an objection. Justice Andrews An-drews said It appeared io him that the defense had a right to prove, if ..norlKIn K i lliitrr ovllH hptwcfifl IIUBBIW1B! business and politics a corrupt alliance alli-ance or, that there was one between Mr Barnes and Mr. Murphy. "If these things can be proved."' said the court, "they may establish justification of this alleged libel " Court Overrules Objection. The court then overruled the objection. objec-tion. The court added that Ihe defendant had a perfect right to give testimony regarding campaign contributions and that he presumed that this was what Mr. Bowers was getting at. Mr. Bowers said It was. The witness then replied that he did have conversations with Mr. Barnes 'about the franchise tnx act. Said Colonel Roosevelt: "I cannot give the exact dates. They began in the spring of 199, however, and - continued until the fall. I do not remember that any other person was ever present." The colonel continued to say th3t Mr. Barnes endorsed the protest of Mr TMatt against the franchise tax bill. Mr. Ivlns objected to nearly every question ajid answer. He was overruled over-ruled on each objection. Syracuse. N. Y., April 20 Counsel for William Barnes in his suit for alleged al-leged libel against Theodore Roose-trell Roose-trell rested their case today, after thej had offered evidence calculated to prove publieution of the alleged libelous statements uttered against the lornn r chairman of the Republican Repub-lican ftate committee by the former president of the United Stales. j Mr. Barnes' counsel placed only one witness upon the stand. He was John McGratb, Colonel Roosevelt's private secretary. He testified that he gave out the statement complained of to newspaper reporters at Oyster Bay. A partial list of sixty-eight newspapers newspa-pers in which the statement appeared was then read and counsel for the defendant conceded that the statement state-ment had appeared In them. They also conceded that a detail statement of the circulations of each of the newspapers mentioned was correct. Plaintiff Rest? Case. The case for the plaintiff was rested rest-ed after counsel for both sides had delivered their opening addresses to the jury' and" one witness heard. William Wil-liam M Ivlns. for Mr. Barnes, pictured pic-tured the former president as having been the nation's greatest arbiter of morals and said that he was now iu court with an opportunity to prove the alleged libelous thing. he had said about Mr. Barnes on various occasions. oc-casions. William H Van Benschoten. for the defense, described the colonel as the champion of pood and honest government govern-ment and said that he had prompted to make the statement by the belief that there was corruption and rottenness rot-tenness in the administration of the government of the state of New- York He reiterated the statement made yesterday that ("olonei Roosevelt meant nothing personal to Mr. Barnes or to Charles F Murphy of Tammany Hall, who was also mentioned in the statement, and that those names were biraply "algebraic terms ' Crowd Cheers Roosevelt. Colonel Roosevelt arrived at the court house before his opponent. The crowd i heered him as he alighted from an automobile and the colonel waved his hat. Mr Ivins began his address by explaining ex-plaining to the jury the alleged libel and the law thereto Occasion of Libel. "We must consider the occasion out of which the alleged libelous matter arose The occasion was antrodent to the primary elections in this state last fall Who were the principals" The defendant, while a member of the assembly in the early SO's established a reputation as an author. He at Chat time had begun to make himself a factor in public affairs He had more influence than any single newspaper." news-paper." Mr Ivlns then outlined Colonel Roosevelt's political career and added: Fluent With Pen "During all this time he continued I to be fluent with his pen and grad ually became the greatest factor in American politics " After pointing that Mr Barnes and Colonel Roosevelt were both educated educa-ted at Harvard. Mr. Ivlns discussed at length the manner in which they had entered publir life. "When did the interests of the prm cipals in this action begin to diverge ' Mr Ivlns went on. "I'll tell you. It was during the gubernatorial campaign of 1910 We do not Intend to go Into that break Just at this time. It is enough to say that a controversy arose over w ho would control the convention. The result was that Colonel Roosevelt was the victor and he obtained control of the Republican party at that time. The Republican party failed at the election, elec-tion, however Campaign of 1912. "In 1912 the defendant left the party and the details of the great campaign between Colonel Roosevelt. Mr Wil-son Wil-son and Mr Taft are well known to you. Now. to show you how many people had confidence in Colonel Roosevelt more than four million voters vo-ters also left the party with him Mr. Ivlns then discussed the question ques-tion of whether Colonel Roosevelt harbored any malice toward Mr Barnes. Bore Malice Toward Barnes. "We intend to show that he did 'hold malice by showing that libelous statements were issued by him during a period covering several years." Mr. Ivlns dwelt upon the legality of (Continued n Paga Six.) uu ROOSEVELT TELLS THE STORY OF HIS LIFE IN LIBEL SUIT U-ontlnued from Page One ) the position as chairman of the Re publican state committee, which Mr Barnes occupied. He then went into an explanation of the last gubernatorial guberna-torial campaign and read the statement state-ment upon which the suit is based. Are All Allegations True. "Are the allegations true or are they not9" he asked. "If they are. the plaintiff haB no standing in tbia court If the allegations are false then it la the duty of you gentlemen to pass upon the queBtlon of damages. In this connection T believe the court will Instruct that there is no privilege to defame any man Mr. Ivlns referred to Colonel Roosevelt Roose-velt "as one of the country s greatest historians and authors." Then ho baid: "He used a combination of his magnificent mag-nificent command of the English language lan-guage and his experience in politics to make this attack. "I shall show you that, with his con trol of publication at least four million mil-lion persons and probably more had access to the newspapers of this country coun-try in which the statement was printed. print-ed. Because he was tho most pow- orfnl political and intellectual factor in the United States he was able to secure wider publication of his remarks re-marks than any other citizen could Must Prove Truthfulness "Now he is here and he will have to prove his own truthfulness to jour satisfaction "An answer has been filed to the complaint Yesterday in the motion to dismiss, counsel for oloin-l Kun.-r .elt said nothing personal was meant to Mr Barnes and Mr. Murphy. I want you gentlemen to determine for yourselves whether anything personal I was meant Mr. Ivlns then concluded an follows: "We come into court under the great principle of liberty, the quality upon which this action rests. Wo come in not only for ourselves, but for the benefit of all mankind " Roosevelt's Counsel Opens William 11. Van Benschoten of Col Roosevelt s legal staff, opened the defendant's de-fendant's case. He said In part: "Mr Ivins referred to the fact that yesterday was the anniversary of th" 'shot that was heard around the world' and that shot was fired in the cause of liberty It was fired as a protest against corrupt government in England. "Colonel Roosevelt, having been a citizen of this state nearly. all his life, certainly had a right to stand up and demand good honest goernmont" Fight of 1914. Coming down to 1914 the lawyer read a series of sentences dealing with corruption in the government of New York, such as in th prisons, th padding of payrolls. inferences of graft, stealjng of public moneys and so on. The sentences he read, counsel coun-sel said, were copied from Mr. Barnes' newspaper The Albany Journal. Counsel then read editorials from the same paper in which Colonel Roosevelt was laudeil for his efforts to secure clean politics and clean government gov-ernment Piatt's Name Brought In. The name of Thomas C. Piatt was first brought to the attention of the Jury when Mr Van Benschoten mentioned men-tioned it in sketching the actions of Colonel Roosevelt in Albanv. It was there, counsel said, that the colonel and Mr. Barnes first came to know each other well. Mr Piatt, who counsel described as "the easy bo69.' was the national political partner of Mr. Barnes Mr Van Benschoten discussed the opposition of Mr. Barnes to Governor Hughes and the activities of Mr. Barnes while Colonel Roosevelt was governor. He mentioned several measures opposed by Mr Barnes. He also discussed the New York state insurance in-surance investigation and a statement he accredited to Mr. Barnes that he wanted men "who would be mine" in government offices. Grave Responsibility of Jury. In concluding counsel said "A grave and great responsibility is resting upon the Jnrv in this case. The eyes of the state and nation are upon you to see how citizens of old Onondaga look upon an effort to establish es-tablish clean and efficient government. govern-ment. How they look upon the performance per-formance of a duty by a citizen trying to maintain for the people a govern ment by and for the people. A money mon-ey verdict on one side or the other Is inconsequential as compared with the vital proposition which comes home to every man, woman and child in this state as to whether good government govern-ment shall exist." John AlcGrath. Colonel Roosevelt's private secretary, who gave out the offending statement, was called as the first witness Mr. McGrath told of giving the statement to newspaper correspondents correspond-ents at Colonel Roosevelt's home at Oyster Bay. Mr Ivins then read a list of newspapers news-papers published in all sections of the United States in which thestatement was presented |