My Experiences as an Executioner

Berry never did such a thing in his life as put on women’s clothes. He never had occasion to put them on, and there was not the slightest shadow of foundation for the statement. The people mentioned in the article as having been hanged by Berry were not hanged by him at all. This libel was printed upon November 23rd, 1889, and an action was commenced at once. The defendants now stated in mitigation of damages that they denied that the words bore the construction which the plaintiff had put upon them, withdrew all imputations, and admitted that any such were unfounded, and apologised for the matter complained of. But the apology and the withdrawal appeared upon the pleadings only. From that day to this, with 158,000 of their papers going out every week, there had net been one single word in the paper apologising for their action. It was open to them with a view to mitigation of damages, to have taken this course, but they had done nothing but put their apology upon the record, and paid into court the majestic sum of 40s. as, in their opinion, sufficient to atone for the wrong.

Mr. Berry was then put into the box and supported Mr. Waddy’s statements.

Mr. Waddy then spoke upon the whole case.

For the defendants Mr. Dodd said that the owners of the newspaper which he represented were as anxious as anybody could be that reasonable justice should be done. Of course, Berry did not suggest that there was any actual money out-of-pocket loss. Then another feature of such a case was the question of whether the paper was one of that class which feeds on personal attacks. He submitted that the general character of the paper, a point to which juries were apt to pay some attention, was good. The articles in question were copied from an American paper, and the proprietors of “Answers” were in the position of having been misled, just as the proprietors of the New York Sun had been misled by the large imagination of Mr. White. Berry seemed to be very quick in his methods, for his writ was served within a very few days of the appearance of the article, and without any opportunity being given to his clients to try and make some kind of apology to suit him. His clients had endeavoured to meet the case in a perfectly reasonable way. They did not for a moment express any doubt that they were dealing with an honest, a decent, and an experienced man, they withdrew all supposed imputations, and had had no intention of making any; and he contended that the highest testimonial possible was one from a person who had said something derogatory to him. Berry had suffered no monetary damage whatever beyond the actual costs of the action. He suggested, therefore, that the jury should give such a verdict as would show that the plaintiff was quite right in bringing the matter into court, but that they were of opinion that the defendants had done everything that they could to mitigate the mischief and annoyance occasioned by the publication of the libel.

His Lordship then summed up, and the jury found for the plaintiff, with £100 damages.

FINIS

1

This chapter is taken verbatim from Mr. Berry’s note-book. Elisions are marked… – Ed.

2

The length of drop you, yourself, thought sufficient, as I read in the Standard.