Sun Flayer

For years Publisher James J. Harpell of the Montreal Journal of Commerce has been editorially gunning for Sun Life Assurance Co., largest in the British Empire, of which he is a policy holder. Last week Sun Life gunned him.

As long as Publisher Harpell confined himself to decrying Sun Life's large and often-criticized portfolio of common stocks, the company ignored his attacks. But in October the Journal carried a bitter article about Sun Life's 72-year-old President Thomas Bassett Macaulay, in which President Macaulay was described as an Insull conspirator, likened to the late Ivar Kreuger, called "one of the world's greatest crooks, a colossal liar, and a swindler." President Macaulay sued for libel (TIME, Oct. 24). Publisher Harpell's usual lawyers would not handle the case for him. At first he harped bitterly on this handicap as he pleaded his own defense. Then a lawyer named Calizte Cormier pleaded that Publisher Harpell had done great services to insurance companies, that Sun Life had increased its bond holdings since he began his attacks. Last week at Montreal a jury took 100 min. to reach a decision: guilty with a plea for leniency. Publisher Harpell faced maximum imprisonment of two years.

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