The action for libel brought by Mr. O'Donnell against the
Times newspaper for its articles on " Parnellism and Crime," name on on Monday, and ended in a collapse on Thursday, the Judge intimating his doubt whether there was any case to go to the jury ; and the jury finding for the defendants, on the plea that, though a very grave libel had been written against Mr. Parnell and the leaders of the Land League, Mr. O'Donnell was not included in the libel, and was not pointed .at by the Times. The Lord Chief Justice even gave the Times costs against Mr. O'Donnell, so clearly was he of opinion that there was nothing to sustain the allegation of Mr. O'Donnell that the Times had treated him as "in complicity with those who perpetrated or instigated crimes and outrages, and especially the murders of Lord F. Cavendish and Mr. Burke in Phcenix Park, Dublin." Mr. O'Donnell, who was represented only by a member of the junior bar, Mi. Ruegg, did not even enter the witness-box to sustain his own case, Mr. Ruegg declining eo produce him till after he had heard the Times' defence, when he intended to produce his client to rebut that defence. As the Lord Chief Justice had understood him to say that Mr. O'Donnell would be produced in any case, and as this proceeding rendered it neces- sarily doubtfulwhether he could be produced at all, and, in fact, prevented his being put in the witness-box, this coyness on the part of the prosecution prejudiced the case. The Attorney. General stated the case for the Times with conspicuous ability, reiterating all the charpes contained in the Times' articles with great force, but disowning altogether any intention to point C
them at Mr. O'Donnell ; and so the case, which had been expected to last a month, collapsed in four days.
