Showdown in the Southwest

The litigious reader ready to sue a newspaper for libel at the drop of an insult has become a familiar courtroom character. But this time the roles were reversed. The editor was suing one of his readers. And to add to the novelty, the editor won. Bill McGaw, owner, editor, publisher and principal reporter of the Southwesterner claimed that his monthly journal of Western lore had been damaged by the actions of Alamogordo, N. Mex., Furniture Dealer A. A. Webster Jr.. a member of the John Birch Society. And a jury agreed --to the amount of $20,000.

A tough-talking hombre with a shock of silver-white hair and a mustache to match, Bill McGaw, 51, does not usually concern himself with current events. He likes to roam the West, tracking down such legends as the saga of the one-woman bawdyhouse in Columbus, N. Mex. Along the way he collects Western relics, including the stagecoach that may have carried President Polk to his inauguration. In July 1963 he learned that the New Mexico Press Association had held a dinner in honor of defeated' California Congressman John Rousselot, who is presently the public relations director of the John Birch Society. McGaw suddenly got excited about current events.

Poisoned Springs. "What the hell is the matter with the newspaper editors of this state?" he asked in an editorial. "The very guardians of our intellectual outposts, the very men who should be sounding the warning against radicalism, import this poison to our springs and beg us to sit and sup with them. Birchites and Communists are probably bent upon the same goals, the main one of which is the destruction of confidence in our Government. I, too, consider myself a conservative. I stand for the old-fashioned principles of this country and will fight for them, but that doesn't include harboring Birchites or Communists or any other half-baked radicals, fanatics and seditionists."

If Rousselot read the attack, he ignored it. But Furniture Dealer Webster was outraged. He circulated a letter to McGaw's advertisers: "I ask if you, as a pro-American, anti-Communist businessman, plan to support a newspaper which is evidently following the Communist Party line?" In answer, some 13 advertisers pulled out of the Southwesterner; the newspaper, which had lost $2,500 the previous year, lost an additional $1,400.

McGaw filed suit in federal court, asking for $1,800,000 from the Birch Society; in state court, he demanded the same sum from Webster. Once the Birch Society won a court order protecting the secrecy of its membership lists, McGaw was unable to prove that Webster was the society's legal agent, and he was forced to withdraw his federal suit. When that happened, the Birch Society, which had filed a countersuit against McGaw, also called off its lawyers. Had the Birch Society gone into court as a plaintiff, it would have faced the difficult task of proving that it had suffered damages from McGaw's editorial. More important, it could have been forced to produce the same membership lists that it was so anxious to keep under wraps.

A Report that Backfired. In state court, where he sued Webster instead of the Birch Society, the angry editor fared better. The defense tried the classic libel defense of truth. McGaw's editorial, the lawyers said, followed the Communist line, just as Webster had charged. Appearing as a star witness, Far-Right Commentator Dan Smoot agreed that the editorial was Communist lining, and the same point was made in a deposition from Martin Dies, onetime chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee. But then the defense quoted some words of praise for the John Birch Society from a California Senate subcommittee on un-American activities. Once that report had been introduced as evidence, the tactic backfired. McGaw's attorneys were able to read parts that the defense lawyers had ignored, sections that compared the Birch Society to the Communist Party, just as McGaw had done. After that, the jury was convinced.

Throughout the trial, the courtroom was packed with spectators openly sympathetic to Webster. Some of them may have kept busy after hours as well. McGaw received obscene telephone calls at his hotel. "They were so vile," he recalls, "that I couldn't repeat them to a Marine drill sergeant--and my own language is pretty salty." Victory should help him bear up under the insults. But it may be some time before McGaw can collect his $20,000. Last week Webster announced his intention of appealing the decision.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.