Show TO3AJL l I i 1 I Kudger Cla son Sent to the Penitentiary HIS SPEECH AND ZANES REPLY Years Imprisonment and Four Eight Hundred Dollars Fine crowd assembled at the court A large rooms yesterday morning and remained re-mained without any abatement of interest during the whole day even after sentence had beeli pronounced the spectators evinced no disposition to leave the court room but remained through the whole or the long speeches that followed f < At 1 The proceedings w rctopene by Mr1 i Diekson rising t and saying This was the hour appointed if your honor please for judgment ilL the United States versus Ulawson Mis HAKKKESS We know of no reason rea-son why your honor should not proceed pro-ceed to pass judgment ME BESSEEI I wish to state to your honor that in the matter of moving for new trial we have after mature con a ideration and deliberation decided not to make such a motion but to rely upon our bill of exceptions The Judge altered his minutes ac cordingly i 1 Judge Zane thon aid3r Clawson will soi si u up if you please Mr Ulawon thereupon arose and stepped up to the clerks desk Judge Zane then said You were convicted con-victed in this court upon an indictment charging that you have been guilty of polygamy tile days named in the indictment in-dictment by marrying Lydia Spencer former wife Florence Ann while our your Clawson was still living In the second count of that indictment you were charged with unlawfully cohabiting with two Florence Ann Clawson and < Lydia Spencer To that indictment you entered plea of not guilty and the jury I was sworn to try the issue and after hearing the evidence and argument of counsel found you guilty on both r counts of the indictment Have you any 1 legal cause to show why judgment shouid not be pronounced upon you i Considerable surprise was visible throughout the court room when Mr Ctawsoii arose and said Your Honor since the jury that recently sat on my case hive seen proper to lind a verdict of guilty 1 have only this to say why judgment should not be pronounced I very much regret that the laws of my country should come in contact with the laws of God but wheneVer they do I shall invariably in-variably choose the latterIf I did not so 1 < express myself I should feel unworthy L of the cause I represent The Constitution Constitu-tion of the United States expressly states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof It cannot be denied I think that marriage mar-riage when attended and sanctioned by religious rites and ceremonies is ant an-t > of religion The law of 1S82 and the Edmunds law were expressly ex-pressly designed to operate against marriage as practised and believed by i the Lattcrdav Saints They are there unconstitutional and of course cannot command the respect that a constitutional con-stitutional law would That is all I I have to say your honor Judge Zane regarded the speaker for a I moment in silence and then leaning back in his chair seemed lost for a i full minute in some inward cogitations J At length breaking the silence he said The Constitution of the United States as construed by the Supreme Court and by the authors of that instrument does not protect any person in the practice prac-tice of polygamy While all men have a right to worship God according to the I dictates of their own conscience and to entertain any religious belief that their I conscience and judgment might reasonably reason-ably dictate they have not the right to I engage in a practice which the American Ameri-can people through the laws of their i country declare to be unlawful and injurious i in-jurious to society There have been I I many barbarous and superstitious peoples peo-ples various conditions of men and I women with respect to each other and different classes of unions have been I I recognized Among them has been pro IIi I I I-Ii miscuity a union without any definite i existence and polyandry I believe so I called one wife and many husbands or more than one husband j and polygamy one husband and a number of wives more than one wife and also monogamy monog-amy one wife one husband This last union has emerged from barbarism and superstition to civilization civiliza-tion and it is the institution of marriage that exists throughout the whole civilized civil-ized world It is the institution which that Infinite Source that manifests all things has manifested as the union existing between man and woman in civilized society This marriage elevate woman to an equality with man so far as their different I differ-ent oreanizations will permit It recognizes I recog-nizes the great principle that lies at the foundation all justice and all equity and equality ISb just government on earth can < iuitl that lives in violation of this great principle of equality upon which xE just laws must rest at last This union elevates woman places her upon i high plane beside man and in I it light believe that man and woman will ascend to a glorious future will climb the hill of progress through all i time side bv side Thi belief that polygamy is right the I civilized world recognizes as mere su i per tition It is one of those superstitions I supersti-tions which honestly believed in in the 1 I pdt has done infinite injury There are I I religious superstitions whose pathway has been lit with the faggot and reddened red-dened with the blood innoc people I The American people through their I law have pronounced polygamy a I rime and this court must execute these law In fixingthis punishment I the statute give to the court a wide r discretion It provides among other i things that a person found guilty of polygamy shall be punished by a fine of < 1 not more than 500 and be imprisoned i impris-oned for a term of not more than five years And for the crime described J in the second count on which you were found guilty the statute provides that a person shall be punished by a fine of not more than 300 or be imprisoned for not more than six months or by both said punishment being left to the discretion discre-tion of the court From these provi ions it ib apparent that the great object of the law was to protect the institution of marriage the marriage recognized by law the marriage of one woman to one tuna and the Court in fixing the punishment rmust not only take into consideration the consequences of the sentence to you and to your family but to society The great object of punishment punish-ment punishment affixed to crimesis to deter other people from committing like offenses and to protect society from evils resulting from the crime and with that view the Court must fix the punishment pun-ishment where it has a discretion The Court however looks at the circumstances circum-stances and where the crime is aggravated aggra-vated the punishment is usually greater should more severe and wfiere thereJ are palliating circumstances the punishment 1 punish-ment should be less I In your case there is one circumstance circum-stance probably that should be taken into consideration You have been taughtas it seems and I presume it to be trueby your ancestors or by those from whom you received religious instruction in-struction that polygamy was right and those who taught you are to some extent ex-tent almost as much to lame as you tbough they cannot be punished because be-cause they have committed no overt act That of course should be taken into account ac-count But you are an intelligent man over 30 years of age t rMr ClawsoniNo sir i L 1 Judge Zane Well I am mista eji as I fo the testimony onthat poiiiu What is your nge Mr Clawson Judge Zane Well I am mistaken then j 27 You were probably between 24 and 25 when the offense was committed com-mitted as charged in the indictment You unquestionably knew of the existence of this Jaw Mr ClawsonYes sir Judge Zane And understood it and you deliberately violated it You violated vio-lated it also with the understanding as you say that you had a right to do so because there was a higher law l i by which you govern your conduct That being so it makes the case some what aggravated You deliberately violated the law of your country I knowing the consequences and the effects And there is another thing to be taken into consideration in this punishmentthe object being to prevent pre-vent the crime As you state and as I presume from the evidence in the case it is true there is a large class of persons per-sons in this Territory and probably many in others whoclaim that it is i right to violate this law The object of the law is to prevent it and it is the duty of the court to so fix the punishment punish-ment that it will be most likely to prevent other persons from committing like offenses against society The institution of marriage is probably proba-bly one of the most important to society of any that exists When freelove or polygamy or any other marriage shall be substituted for the monogamic marriage then this great social fabric which is protected by law now will probably be crumbling about us chastity chas-tity virtue and decency will follow with it in my judgment and that seems to be the judgment of the American peo nip iriii not onlv of the American peo pIe r but of the whole 01 civilized world because j be-cause I believe that polygamy is not lawful in any civilized government on the globe For the purpose of protecting protect-ing society therefore of protecting this institution which is of such great interest inter-est and importance to society the court must fix the punishment so that it will be likely to prevent its recurrence The court as the law provides may fix the fine at not exceeding 500 in the case of polygamy and imprisonment not exceeding ex-ceeding five years I confess that I should have felt inclined to fix this punishment pun-ishment smaller than I shall were it not for the fact that you openly declare that you believe it is right to violate the lawthat you believe you are right in doing it I shall therefore fix your punishment punish-ment 011 the first count for polygamy by a fine of 300 and imprisonment for the term of three years and six months and on the second count for unlawful cohabitation I will fix your fine at 300 and your imprisonment at six months the imprisonment in the last count of the indictment to begin at the termination I termin-ation of the imprisonment on the first count The judgment will be entered by the clerk accordingly A deep silence followed the announcc ment of the sentence silence of consternation con-sternation at the severity of the penalty Mr Kirkpatrick broke it however by rising and moving that the defendant be admitted to bail They desired to appeal he said and asked that their client be allowed to go upon his bail pending the appeal In support of his motion Mr Kirk patrick proceeded to argue the question Ve regret that our space renders it impossible im-possible to give even a summary of Mr Kirkpatricks address and the other speeches made for and against the i motion He spoke until near time for recess and was followed by Mr Dick son who spoke morning and afternoon after-noon for nearly an hour against admitting ad-mitting Mr Clawson to bail Mr Varian followed and the case was closed by Mr Bennett in a brief but terse and succinct address at about 4 oclock I JUDGE ZANE took some time to look over the authorities which had been j I quoted Before the decision was read I the attorneys for the defense presented a certificate setting forth that there was t probable ground for an appeal in the case This remarkable to relate was f signed by the Judge who stated that he thought some features of the trial just pastnotably the issuance of the open venire should be ruled upon by the Supreme Court of the Territory JUDGE ZA1E then delivered his decision de-cision Shorn of all the jefefences and legal phrases with which it abounded it was to the eflect that no sufficiently extraordinary reasons had been advanced why bail should be allowed I al-lowed and the prisoner must be remanded re-manded the custody of the Marshal L 1 i ilS 11 MB CIAWSOX listened to this uc i cision which so summarily and in a manner so unprecedented in the I practice of this district deprived Eractice his liberty With the same equanimity as he exhibited when the judge pronounced the sentence he accompanied I ac-companied the Marshal to his office 1 and a few minutes later in company I I with Deputy Fergus Ferguson he drove to his fathers residence in the Twelfth II Ward After spending some time in arranging his affairs aud speaking some words of farewell to his relatives and friends he was driven to the penitentiary peniten-tiary and last evening passed the first night of his life under the same walls i that shelter the Territories hundred I jailbirds A telephone message to THE I HERALD last night at 10 oclock stated I that he had been consigned to the room occupied by about fifty of the Pens hardened inmates The next move in this celebrated case will probably be a further argument writ of habeas corpus and a gument before the three judges of the Territory who meet on the 10th |