University of Virginia Library

Mencken

The nexlayed while t morning, trial was
deMencken's
lawyers talked friendly court
officials into switching the case
to the schedule of another
judge, James Parmenter. A
liberal magistrate, Parmenter
had never been linked with the
Watch and Ward Society's
anti-smut jihads.

Since the story was reputed
to be obscene, Parmenter ruled
that all testimony would have
to be carried out in whispers.
(This amused Mencken
hugely.) The judge heard both
sides give their arguments, then
said he would read "Hatrack"
that evening and decide
whether or not the story was
obscene.

At 9:30 the next morning,
Parmenter threw out the
prosecution's case and decided
for Mencken.

The Boston Common
uproar, however, was only the
first installment. Chase cajoled
the New York Postmaster, a
close friend, into banning
shipment of the Mercury
through the mails. Mencken
and his lawyers went to court
again

Shortly after the postal ban,
Chase contracted pneumonia
and died. With his death, the
Society could handily blame
him for its defeat in
Parmenter's court. The Watch
and Warders gathered their
forces and sailed out to meet
the Mercury in full and bloody
fray.

In March 1927, the New
York Circuit Court of Appeals
decided against Mencken. But
while he had lost the final
battle, Mencken had, in a real
sense, won the war. The case
would lead to other legal
assaults on censorship, and
Mencken would become a
symbol of tenacity and liberty
to the "enlightened minority"
whose interests he
championed.

Sources:

Carl Bode, Mencken,
Southern Illinois University
Press, 1969.

William Manchester, H.L.
Mencken: Disturber of the
Peace, Collier Books, 1962.