Peterson

This is an action for damages for an alleged libel on plaintiff, committed by means of a letter written by appellant Mrs. C. (Boline) Rasmussen in the Danish language. It is not disputed that the said appellant wrote the letter and that it was delivered to and read by the addressees, a certain Mr. and Mrs. Simonsen, in Sacramento.

Briefly, the complaint alleges that plaintiff is an unmarried woman of twenty-four years of age; that the defendants are husband and wife, residing together as such near Loomis, in Placer County; that on the seventh day of March, 1917, the plaintiff and defendants knew each other personally and on said day, and for a long time prior thereto, the plaintiff and Mr. and Mrs. Simonsen (the addressees of the letter) were close friends; that at all times prior to the publication of the defamatory statements contained in the letter herein after set forth plaintiff had always maintained a good name and reputation among her neighbors, acquaintances, and friends for virtue, politeness, moral worth, and integrity, and had never been suspected of being unchaste and without virtue.

That on the seventh day of March, 1917, the defendant Mrs. C. Rasmussen wrote of and…