A STRANGE LIBEL CASE.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 3, Issue 155, 20 November 1895, Page 4

A STRANGE LIBEL CASE.

A li!:i case of a somewhat curious character Las recently been tried Li- | fore (lie English Law Courts. The plaintiff, who was a Syrian by birth, was the proprietor of a hotel at Jaffa, and it was in regard to certain allegations made by the defendant about the hotel in question that tho proceedings were instituted. Counsel for tho plaintiff undertook to show that the defendants (Messrs Dalan and Co.) had wrongfully published a guide book, wherein it was stated that descendant was an Arab, that h : s hotel was a hotel and that it was advisable for travellers to 'bargain' with him. An injunction was asked to restrain tho defenfants from publishing, selling, or offering fjr sale the second or any further edition of the .alleged libellous production. It came out in cross examination that plaintiff strongly objected to each and all of the allusions to his hotel. In answer to Lord llussell, he saiil he objected to being called an Arab, because it meant an outcast, uncivilised, semi-savage, barbarous man—a man who does not know how to manage a hotel, and lives in tin. l desert. He confessed that ho wrote Arabic, but his piivato card was in English. Plaintiff appeared to have been, of nomadic tendencies. lie had at one time been manager of the Nilo steamers. He had also been employed as a guide an 1 interpreter, and in that capacity had visited various parts of tho globe. He had also accompanied a lady lecturer on tour, At this .stage an amusing bit of byplay took place. Witness (crossexamined) : I did not appear in the lecture as an Arab; 1 appeared as 1 lavid slaying Goliath. Lord llussell: Who represented Goliath ? "Witness : Another man on the platform. Lord Kussoll: Oh, tableaux vioanls? Witness : I appeared on the platform as a contractor, and the lecturer told the people if they wanted to go to Palestine I would conduct them and she would give them my address. Lord Eussell : Ho slew Goliath for tho sako of the advertisement to his business ! Tho upshot of the matter was that tho jury found that the description of plaintiff's business given in defendant's book was not substantially correct; that it was derogatory to his business, and therefore a libel. The feelings of the injured foreigner were solaced with the payment of £SO, and tho question of the injunction was ordered to stand over.