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Finish is Near in Libel Action Against Hunter

November 21, 1934
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The jury in the two $100,000 suits brought by the Artkino Guild, Inc., against the Industrial Defense Association and its executive director, Edward Hunter, will be charged by Judge Hammond tomorrow morning in the Suffolk Superior Court.

Final pleas were made late this afternoon by counsel for both sides. Richard Lurie, counsel for the plaintiff, delivered an eloquent summary of the case in which he called Hunter a “man who makes his living from bigotry and whose sole purpose is the creation of hatred of one another.” Lurie also pointed out that it was he who refused to allow a Jewish judge, Lewis Goldberg, to preside at the case and Jewish jurymen to judge it so that there could be no possible hue and cry by Hunter and his associates about not getting a fair trial.

Hunter and his association had accused the Artkino of spreading Red propaganda and corrupting the morals of American youth by means of motion pictures. The defense denied the charges and stated that many prominent Americans had been patrons of Artkino. The plaintiff also charged that Hunter and his association had trafficked with the Chicago anti-Semite Harry A. Jung.

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