The Press: Loeb Blow

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That the book made it into print at all is a minor miracle. Loeb has a reputation for launching libel actions at the drop of a pejorative: New Times and the Boston Globe are currently facing Loeb suits totaling $7.5 million. Eleven publishers shied away from Cash's manuscript, and three libel insurance firms refused to underwrite his possible legal defense costs. Cash finally formed his own publishing house, Amoskeag Press, Inc. (from an old Indian name for the

Manchester area), and incorporated it in Delaware to make it harder for Loeb to sue. Still, four New Hampshire printing firms would not touch the book, and Cash had to go to Vermont for a printer.

The Union Leader has refused to run advertisements for the biography. It is no secret around New Hampshire that Cash once had a drinking problem and was dismissed by the Union Leader in 1959. "Nobody ever drank more than Kevin—he was a real newspaperman," says Jimmy Breslin, an old colleague from Cash's Herald Tribune days, who encouraged him in the project. Cash readily admits that he was fired—for showing up drunk to cover a golf match —but swears he has not had a drink in two years. Says he: "I gave up everything for this. I thought it was about time somebody stood up to this guy."

What such effrontery will cost Cash is unclear. Cash has sent Loeb a copy of the book, but the publisher declines to comment. Says Loeb: "The only response we make will be in court."