Stevens

Defendants appeal from a judgment for plaintiff upon a verdict in his favor in an action for damages for libel. The action was based upon the following publication in the form of a letter signed by the defendants, and published in the “Santa Barbara Daily News” (the plaintiff and defendants being residents of the Summerland district in the county, of which Santa Barbara is the county seat).

“Through no fault of our own we seem to.be dragged into Summerland disputes. If there are factions in that town we are not interested in them. But we are interested in the crookedest deal in the shape of annexation of the territory of one school district to another that was ever put over on the quiet in the state of California. However, when we learn that E. P. Stevens,—Ed Stevens, well known to the readers of the Daily News—worked the thing up and got it done we do not so much blame the public officers who are involved in it.

“What is it that causes a number of the people of Summerland to call us kickers and disturbers because we do not quietly submit to a form of legalized robbery? Let us show you and all fair-minded men and women what was done in November, 1917, without our knowledge and…