CRIMINAL LIBEL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 April 1942, Page 4

CRIMINAL LIBEL

ALLEGED IN UNITED STATES ATTEMPT TO DEFAME GENERAL MacARTHUR. OFFENCE MAY CONSTITUTE TREASON. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright LOS ANGELES, April 1. The District Attorney’s office has issued a complaint charging several persons with conspiracy to libel criminally General MacArthur. Two outspoken Isolationists, Robert Noble and Ellis Jones, were named in the complaint, also Leone Nemier, Noble’s secretary, and W. D. Athbone, printer, who published a pamphlet containing the alleged libellous matter. The pamphlet was issued by a group headed by Noble and Jones, called the “Friends of Progress.” The pamphlet charged that General MacArthur deserted his troops in Batan and fled to Australia. Attorney-General Warren declared that the pamphlet contained a malicious falsehood and was intended not only to defame General MacArthur but also to spread disaffection among the people and cripple the nation’s war effort. “This is a libel of the grossest sort, and it may constitute treason,” he said. “If MacArthur and his boys can protect our nation at their posts of duty across the Pacific, California can and will at least protect their ' good names at home.” Noble characterised the charges as “utterly ridiculous and without foundation. I certainly didn’t mean to say anything derogatory about General MacArthur.” ■' .