Home/Michigan Supreme Court/Randall v. Evening News Ass'n

Randall v. Evening News Ass'n

60 N.W. 301, 101 Mich. 561, 1894 Mich. LEXIS 974
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 25, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 60 N.W. 301 (Randall v. Evening News Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Randall v. Evening News Ass'n, 60 N.W. 301, 101 Mich. 561, 1894 Mich. LEXIS 974 (Mich. 1894).

Opinion

Hooker, J.

The defendant, being publisher of a daily paper, appeals from a judgment rendered against it in an action of libel. The alleged libel consists of three articles published in said paper upon the 15th day of April, 1891, in relation to a boulevard at that time projected in the city of Detroit, copies of which articles were set up in the declaration, and read as follows:

[563]*563“ LET ’ER GO GALLAGHER.
“The Boulevarders Win the Battle for Private Gain.
“ Twenty Estimators Speak for the People of Detroit.
“And the First Boodle of $200,000 is Voted for the Improvement of the Boulevard de Speculation — The Spigot Turned Open, and the Cash will Flow from Now On.
“Twenty of the estimators tumbled head over heels yesterday afternoon in their anxiety to be in harmony with the boulevarders, and to be placed on record as in favor of taxing everybody for the enrichment of a few real-estate speculators. The 20 are Bagley, Campau, Cornell, De Vogelaer, Farrand, Gorenflo, Hargreaves, Hickey, Koch, Lenaert, Merritt, Mulheron, McKay, Sauer, Stenius, Taepke, Tuchoeki, Viehoff, Wild, and Wright. Eleven estimators went on record as opposed to issuing any boulevard bonds without first getting the consent of the voters. The 11 are Bayer, Galster, Hickox, Markey, Munroe, Peters, Petz, Raeske, Reaume, Ruch, and Valentine.'
“The boulevarders counted noses before the meeting, and were sure of a majority for the bonds. The board went into committee of the whole, and the minority, led by President Valentine, who yielded the chair to Estimator Farrand so that he could get down on the floor and talk, tried hard to stave off a vote. They interposed motions to adjourn, knowing they had nothing to lose and everything to gain by delay, but they were outvoted every time. Then, too, the boulevarders had the best talkers with them. Estimator Mulheron directed the majority, but Estimator Sam Hargreaves, who has recently flopped and blossomed into the most rabid kind of a boulevarder, Charles Wright, Taepke, and James B. McKa.y gave them right royal support. James A. Randall and some other real-estate speculators, who own property that will be enhanced in value by improving the boulevard by general taxation, were smiling auditors to the one-sided scrap. They knew hours before the final vote was taken that they had a cinch on the bonds.
“Estimator Mulheron, chairman of the committee that had been considering the question of issuing bonds, was the only one of the five who was against submitting the bonds to the people. The other four members — -Bayer, Ruch, Pospeshil, and Peters— insisted that the bonds should be submitted, and made a formal report that the bonds not be issued without the consent of the people. Mulheron presented a report of his own making, in which he advised- that the bonds be issued without being submitted to a popular vote. The athletic doctor was loaded for bear, and he made a band-wagon speech that even Randall himself could not discount. He told the board that no question in the 20 years that he has lived in Detroit has made so much trouble in local politics [564]*564as the boulevard. Then he got sentimental, and .pleaded for the members to show their manhood and vote for the bonds, and thus repudiate, as Artemus Ward would say, the 1 fowl slanders ’ that have been cast on the boulevarders.
“ Estimator Taepke, like Mulheron, was primed for talking, but, not being a band-wagon orator, he didn’t enthuse the boulevarders to quite the extent that the doctor did. Taepke chewed the chestnuts that the boulevarders have been retailing for years about how the city promised to improve the boulevard if the right of way was dedicated, and it would be but justice to fulfill the promise. He also rung in the old saw about how Detroit would have been Chicago ‘if it was up to Chicago.’ Sam Hargreaves related how he had experienced an awakening not many moons ago, and found that he had been following the wrong path in all the years that he was against the bonds. He was on the righteous path now, — the boulevarders’ path. Estimator Charles Wright delivered a carefully prepared speech, which, while it contained nothing that had not been told dozens of times before, sounded well, because the estimator is a pretty fair talker.
“Estimator Raeske, in defending the majority report, said the issuing of- the bonds as proposed would be a piece of class legislation. If the city wants to improve streets, let it do so in the heart of the city, and not go to the outskirts. President Valentine tried to get the recognition of Estimator Earrand, who was holding down the president’s chair, but the acting chairman recognized Mulheron, who wanted to talk. President Valentine wanted to know if the minority were to be choked ofi in arbitrary form, but the doctor went on talking boulevard. There were loud calls for a vote, and the minority report, being signed by the chairman, was considered first. The acting chairman declared Mulheron’s report carried on a vive voce vote, but a division was demanded by the minority. The division showed 19 for Mulheron’s report, and 10 against it.
“ The boulevarders let out a pent-up whoop when the result was announced, and didn’t let up until they had run dry. The board, as a committee of the whole, rose, and went into a regular session again, President Valentine resuming the chair. Estimator Petz, one of the valiant minority, promptly sprung a motion to adjourn. The boulevarders wanted to clinch their victory, and a dozen of them were on their feet at one time, demanding a final vote on the bonds. Taepke, the boulevard but not band-wagon orator, wanted to know if ‘ we,’ meaning the boulevarders, were not to have a fair show. President Valentine assured him that no snap judgments would be taken, but that one of the recognized rules of parliamentary law is that a motion to adjourn has preference to any other, and is always in order. The boulevarders were still appre[566]*566hensive, and every one of them who had his speech-making clothes on tried to talk at one time. The chairman frowned on the boisterous proceedings, and reminded the board not to forget that they were gentlemen. Order was finally restored, and the motion to adjourn was voted down. The final vote on the bonds was then ordered, and 20 to 11 for the bonds was the result, and the boulevarders cheered.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 N.W. 301, 101 Mich. 561, 1894 Mich. LEXIS 974, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/randall-v-evening-news-assn-mich-1894.