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Show I Attorney Shocked at Ignorance of Henry Ford. CASE IS PITIFUL Plaintiff Assailed in Closing Address by Senior Counsel. - ! MOUNT CLEMENS. Mich.. Aug. 12. ! Arguments in the $1,000,000 llboi suit against the Chicago Tribune closed today with the summing up addresses ad-dresses of Elliott G. Stevenson, senior counsel for the Tribune, and Alfred Lucking, senior counsel for Mr. Ford Mr. Stevenson took up the editorial on which the suit is based and read one of the alleged libels. i "A man ao ignorant of th' ft-.nda mentals of government as Henrv ! Ford." "Well." commented the lawyer, "what did he tell us on the stand? He said he did not know what the fundamentals funda-mentals were and didn't care. And they put Ford employes on the stand to prove that he could read and write. I was never so shocked in my life." Mr. Stevenson recounted how Mr. 1 Ford repeatedly evaded reading whll-'on whll-'on the witness stand and finally said he was willing the impression shou'd go out that he could not read ) The Tribune lawyer said that incident inci-dent after incident occurred while tpo 'plaintiff was on the stand to prove the charge of ignorance. I "it was pitiful," continued Mr. Stevenson, Stev-enson, "but they had demanded pro 1 and I had to go'on until Judge Tucker himself said 'Mr. Stevenson. 011 ha' one far enough along this line'. Geii-tiemen Geii-tiemen that phase of the proof was lecmpletcd right there." I Mr. Stevenson said be wondered If Mr. Ford would have opposed sending soldiers to the Mexican border if he had been in Jesse Deemer's place and kidnaped into Mexico. "And now comes Mr Ford and says that his reputation lias been ruined, I his life blasted by this editorial." w ent on Mr Stevensen. "Great heavens; 'Gentlemen! Blasted!! Ruined! Why his reputation was so ruined th,. Michigan, two months after the editorial, editor-ial, gave him the primary vote for president! President! Think of it. Some of you jurymen may have voted for him. I don't know but if you did may God forgive you." |