Page:The Brass Check (Sinclair 1919).djvu/193

 Now, concerning this account there is only one thing to be said: it was absolute fiction. I have never met a more agreeable gentleman than Mr. Pierson, president of the Tarrytown village board; he voted my way on every occasion, and from first to last we never exchanged a word that was not cordial. On reading this account I at once went to see him, and ascertained that both he and the other trustees considered the report to be false and inexcusable. I then sent a letter to the "Herald" informing them that they had libeled me, and threatening them with a suit. They sent a reporter to see me, and I explained to this reporter the basis of my complaint, and next morning the "Herald" published my letter of complaint, together with an article reiterating its statement, and quoting three of the trustees as supporting its statement. I quote the "Herald" reporter's words:

I saw Frank R. Pierson, president of the village, and asked his opinion of the correctness of the account published in the "Herald." Mr. Pierson carefully read the article and then said:

"Mr. Sinclair certainly made the remarks attributed to him in the 'Herald,' if I heard aright, and I did jump up and declare that we should not be intimidated by threats. Mr. Sinclair may not have intended to make a threat, but the inference was plain. The 'Herald' did not misquote either Mr. Sinclair or me."

And concerning the above interview also there is only one thing to be said; it was absolute fiction. I went to see Mr. Pierson again, and he assured me that he had given no such interview, and would appear in court and testify accordingly. Another of the trustees wrote me that the "Herald" interview with him was a "fake," and so I put the matter into the hands of my attorneys, and a libel-suit was filed against the "New York Herald." It dragged for a year or two, and I came to California and dismissed the matter from my mind. When the time came for the suit to come to trial, I was unwilling to take the trip to New York, and asked my lawyers to have the matter dropped. You may imagine my consternation when I received a letter from them, telling me that they had been negotiating with the attorneys for the "Herald," and had succeeded in settling the case upon the basis of a payment of twenty-five hundred dollars damages! Never, if I live to be as old as Methuselah, shall I spend money that will bring me more satisfaction than that twenty-five hundred dollars!

Throughout these Tarrytown adventures, which lasted sev