(Jewish Daily Bulletin)
Today’s sessions of the Sapiro-Ford $1,000,000 libel suit were marked by the monotonous questioning of Sapiro, still on the witness stand, by Senator Reed, Ford’s counsel and the almost incessant arguments and bickerings between attorneys for both sides.
Reed, trying to prove that Aaron Sapiro sought control of the world’s wheat crop, continued to inquire into Sapiro’s connections with various farm cooperatives and went into minute details regarding fees paid the expert by the numerous organizations that asked for his counsel.
A clash arose over the question of admitting as evidence part of a speech made by Sapiro in Chicago, in July. 1920. Reed wanted to cite extracts from the speech. Gallagher insisted all or none of it be read. Whispered arguments to the judge, out of earshot of the jury, consuinmed twenty-five minutes. The Judge ruled in favor of Sapiro. The letter was not read.
Another clash resulted on Reed’s charge that Sapiro, disappointed in his ambition to become general counsel to the powerful American Farm Bureau Federation, went to a rival group and finally to a third.
The Senator made these charges in a court room cleared of the jury, after three hours of cross-examination of Sapiro had brought him, by slow and painful progress, to the point of asking Mr. Sapiro about his efforts to gain the counselship of the federation.
The court ruled out the question upon which the argument had risen and Senator Reed had to start, from another quarter, the tortuous journey back to this point where he had been resisted.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
