Jefferson v. Bates

The appellee, M. Bates, filed a declaration in the circuit court of Sunflower county in an action of slander in the oral use of words against the appellant, and the declaration embraced four counts.

In the first count it was charged that the appellant, defendant in the court below, spoke of the plaintiff, M. Bates, saying that he (meaning Bates) “set fire to and burned his house,” and that such words were considered an insult and were calculated to lead to a breach of the peace.

No effort was made to introduce proof as to count two of the declaration.

Count three likewise alleged that the…