Show SEALING IS 18 LEGAL MARRIAGE SAYS THE SUPREME COURT Declares That Annie Armitage Hilton Was the lawful Law Lawful La ful Wife of Dr John R Park Mormon Church Divorces of No Effect E Deals Blow at 4 One of the Saints Teachings 1 mllE lIE MORMON sealing ceremony TIlE 1 j 4 a 3 d al marriage contract and th lurch divorce Is 1 naught trw laiK Ar 4 t tage Hilton HUton was the legal rife de of or I J John Jhn hn R Park and being w jj 11 j i Is entitled to and will fIt v a n third of or his estate estateS FI S F pa I FY yg h supreme court of ot the J e I 1 to ih ah in n a straightforward un UnU U X t nion rendered yesterday h r c the decision of ot the trial wt rt jp in th thO famous case It was writ 3 I ty ly JUStiN Justl JUStIe e Bartch and concurred i hy y J Ju s 9 Miner and Baskin The lie he n is important in its ef e ct Thc peculiar ordinance of ot the If Jesus Christ of ot known as sealing was never nevert t J d nor Dor legally defined until now nowa a vi iJ J th I fi ion that it is a legal mar roar jg f r time as well as eternity j J I on even to the Interpretation peed i n th doctrine by some of the d authorities of or the Mormon On this question the case d W Wr r 3 The favorable outcome will alc Mrs Irs Hilton richer by about vI Estate of Dr Park At th the time of oC the death of or Dr John Park the Utah educator he left Ift 1 ft the ajor jor n of or his estate valued at ati i aut ut tn o to his adopted daughter I sa P Roylance and the University c c Utah nab Some months after Dr Parks Park death on Dec Dee 5 1900 Mrs HU HI HUn HIt i n t of or Police Officer William HIt HH HItt t 1 brought action against the heirs nd rd I executors to recover a statutory rest crest t ft rf If In the estate Her Heri i aim arn d di fl not however relate to the thet t tors personal property Tie The case C e created a profound sensa f I fr r sirs Mrs Hilton HUton claiming that the she theris cas tal marr married ed or sealed to Dr Park f D December 1872 and was never dl di vred except by a church divorce I V h Is 18 an agreement between the artles to dissolve their marital rela t The hearing harIn came on before beCore Judge ITh H 1 l In the district court and the en evl el J nee showed slowed that In 1872 Annie F P Armitage then a girl of Qt 19 met Dr I Fark Park then a man of about 40 at LIv Lh Tool pool England on a vessel bound for America Miss Armitage came to Salt Lake LallI and took up her residence with ine F Young Tn in November of i Ill c same uTne v year ar the girl was war as token taken aeri son erl v ill III and so continued until Dec 5 i F at time at the home of JI T Young Tung Hing Miss Armitage on her herti herk herEjk ti Ejk k bd bed was w sealed by mutual con conw conent w Ern to Dr Park the ceremony being performed r by b Daniel H Wells WeBs one of oft fh t V first presidency of ot the tho Mormon The latter tatter issued a certificate certificated d to the parties as 8 follows Certificate of ot Sealing John Rockey Park born Tiffin S nea O 0 C 7 May 1833 Anne Ann Flora Armitage Armit ge born Not London 19 Feb 1853 The above parties were sealed by Prest Pret D H Wells Wens In the presence ft or It Eni Free Young Toung at her herr r r in Salt Lake City U TJ T TI I 5 1 j the lady lad being on her d deathbed DANIEL H WELLS ed across the face of It was F in historians office journal date R It L C tige the ceremony and she sho V recovered her health But fV 1 following the doctor I ld v d his visits He had told her herr r 1 wa a an obstacle to their mar marr marage marage r age I pon tw two o occasions then she I l a divorce from the doctor j I B I d he hI h sal sail he would arrange the mat matIn matIn matIn In March 1873 they t 1 y mutually S god d ui n p n a church divorce the doc docie docI I ie nt bf ng as II follows Church Divorce Know all au persons by b these pre pre That we WC the undersigned J n n R p Park and Anne his wife beforE her marriage to him Anne do hereby mutually cove coe nant promise and nd agree to dissolve all aU the relations that have hitherto existed between us as husband and wife Ite and to keep ourselves separ separate separate separate ate and apart from each other from this time forth The document is signed by b the par parties parties parties ties and witnessed by D McKenzIe and James Jack Following this in October 1875 1815 the plaintiff was wag married or sealed so sotar far tar as she was capable of contracting the marriage relation to William Hil Hll Hilton Enton ton and since then she has lived with Hilton as his wife and has a number Of Cf children as the result of her union with him In Mrs Hiltons suit against the executors of the Part Park estate the lower court decided the case against Mrs Hilton taking the position that she was not the legal wife of ot Dr Park At once the plaintiff appealed to the supreme court The decision rendered yesterday con slats of typewritten pages and goes into the case in great detail d It says in part It Is la clear according to the revealed f church law that to be sealed was to be married for tor time and eternity and andI that the sealing mating I 6 ceremony n Is a marriage ceremony which g is i good at common g law the part referring to eternity as we have haves seen s en being regarded as simply surplus are asre as e It k seems also clear dear upon careful car ful scrutiny scrutiny tiny that neither a sealing nor marriage for time whereby the tha parties are to be become become become come husband and wile wife for this world only nor a sealing nor a marriage for eternit whereby the parties are not to become husband and wife until after death that Is in the next world was authorized by this revealed law and hence any and all aU such unauthorized mar marriages marriages marriages would be a violation of oC the revelation lion tion and would subject the contracting parties to tho the penalty provided as for disobedience for Cor the express revealed covenant la Is that sealing or marrying i ishall shall be for tor time and eternity The opinion quotes from Brigham Young Toung Orson Pratt John Taylor and others and continues In the light of or these authorities can there be any doubt that in Mormon church parlance sealed means the same thing as the word married or that a sealing ceremony is with the Lat Saints a marriage ceremony Is It not apparent that by them these terms are aro used interchangeably and syn synonymously With them whether the sol aol solemnization of o the th venant of 01 marriage be called CRUea a it sc s dla mony it IC means mans the th same In either case It establishes s the marriage status and al creates wife alto As a n result of or our investigations the conclusion that the sealing ceremony performed In this case established the marriage status and created the rela relations relations of oC husband end nd wife is irresistible ble L We o are of the opinion that the finding and holding of the court that the plain tilt tiff tit and Dr John R It Park were never married and that she is entitled to no part of ot the estate e tate of the deceased are areso areso areso so manifestly erroneous that they can cannot cannot cannot not be upheld and the case caso must there therefore therefore fore tore be reversed with directions to the court courll below elow to set aside its finding and decree and enter new findings and decree in accordance herewith It is so ordered We concur MINER Chief Justice BASKIN Justice Divorce Also Illegal mega From the opinion but one conclusion ian an n be arrived at regarding the church I divorce It is conceded to be illegal and I incompetent The supplementary case e j I of ot S Hilton to quiet title Is in also reversed The first word of the action of the supreme court was conveyed to the tha Hilton family at their home on Second street by a Herald reporter To say that delight reigned there expresses the truth mildly Billy Hilton the hus bus husband husband I band threw up his hands with an ex exclamation and hugged the breath out I of the newspaper man He shouted the news to 10 the children and grown daugh daughters tens Well said Mr Hilton HUton I 1 am de delighted delighted lighted and nd probably P surprised I knew I we were right but bat I hardly expected I ICo Continued Co on Page 2 I SEANG IS LEGAL MARRIAGE Continued from front page 1 L LI 1 I a reversal So its in our favor well weIl j well vell 1 One of or the children lIdren ch at this point cried out that have ha a new house 1 Hilton continued i iI I 1 dont see sec how they could have de decided decided I that case against us I 1 went I through the same ceremony D B H 1 Wells officiating as did my wife wire and Dr Park and it if they were not mar mars married ned ried then th nl I never was married d And If It 1 we were not married then all the men menI I who were sent to the penitentiary for forI 1 I unlawful cohabitation were falsely im imprisoned ImI Imprisoned for the ceremony is the same I Hilton mlton ilton is Satisfied Daniel H Wells told me all about the Park affair before I married and j f my wife vUe did the same but I 1 care I met my wife as a young man She was as a young oung woman It was a case of ot love at nt first sight and I wanted her for my wife wile I care if It she had been married a hundred times I Mrs airs Hilton took the news quietly I but with every indication In of delight I At the suggestion that the decision might throw a cloud on her marriage to Mr r Hilton she said saIdI You know I 1 was only 19 years e ar sold old t and took Dr Parks word for every everything everything I thing thins because he was so much older I than thon I When we were separated by bythe bythe bythe the church divorce he told me and Mrs Wells and others told tod me that it was all nh I required that I could go ahead set get et married again I 1 believed them and did get t married and I had no idea that the divorce was not legal I until my mO attorney informed me of the I facts I There have been intimations of job jobbery jobbery jobbery bery In this matter but I was only after my rights and thanks to my at attorneys attorneys tornes I got them 1 Attorney AU orney N V Jones who worked up upI I the case oase and was associated with Pow Powers Powers 1 I ers Lippman in its progress was as very well pleased Praises Courts Courage i There is one thing I want to say to said he and that Is 15 this The case t f rested on a purely legal question and the court had the courage to pass upon it on that basis in the face of popular prejudice Sealing is the form of marriage practiced by the Church of ot Jesus Christ Christof of Saints It cannot be any anything an anything thing else Mrs Hilton was sealed to Dr Park and she is entitled to at least the statutory interest in the estate I Iam Iam Iam am glad Iad to say sa she has got sot it It oo Mrs iS Hiltons claim relates only to Dr Parks Park real estate This T ls has hs been J een appraised at about the whole estate being worth about and she sie will get Jet of ot this As to the property which the doctor deeded away during his life In which Mrs Irs Hil Hll Hilton Hilton ton had bad no voice olce I 1 am yet et unprepared to speak It is apparent however that the title to that property has been af at affected affected att t by b the i Said Judge Powers who made one of the tle principal arguments before the su supreme supreme supreme preme court 1 I expected nothing else The parties were wore married The law recognized reco only one marriage and knows nothing about sealing She was his wife and that settled It Attorney Frank Pierce who led the theother theother theother other side was disappointed but took the defeat philosophically 1 We re took the tIle stand said he that the woman was unconscious and on her supposed death bed that the ceremony gone through with was never neer intended as a marriage marrage but that the sealing took effect after alter death The supreme court says we are wrong We can da do but one thing now petition for a re rehearing rehearing rehearing hearing i |