"Erratic, Bohemian"

"The court is well aware that reporters in the City of New York commonly lead an erratic and Bohemian existence, and what might be libelous when said of a merchant or professional man, will not be held libelous when said of one leading such an existence."

Thus, it was learned last week, pleaded counsel for Publishers Doubleday, Doran & Co. in asking dismissal of a $150,000 libel suit brought in Manhattan by Neil Callahan, onetime reporter for the New York Sun. Callahan claimed that he and his wife, whose name was Hester Robinson, were maliciously portrayed as "Ralph Halloran" and "Rebecca Robishek," leading characters in a book called Rebecca the Wise by Josef Israels II, codefendant.

Submitted the defense: "It appears from the face of the complaint that the plaintiff is a roving reporter, having worked on five different newspapers, having covered East Side courts and having been a ship news reporter. . . . In so far as the alleged libelous matter is not admittedly true, it is submitted that it is not libelous per se, when spoken of a newspaper reporter."

The court refused to dismiss the action.

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