Conroy v. Fall River Herald News Publishing Co.

This is an action against the publisher of a newspaper for two alleged libels published on January 11, 1936. Earlier, during the year 1935, the defendant in a number of articles had attacked the plaintiff in strong language, principally because of his conduct as State senator. These were published in a column entitled “Political Grab Bag,” written by a political writer for the defendant, named Brindley. On the evening of January 8, 1936, the plaintiff delivered a public speech, reported in the defendant’s newspaper, in which he indulged in vulgar abuse of Brindley. But he said, “I don’t hate…