Show t t RELS EAD1S0ASE It 4 C 61 4 W J I 7 er J Three and a Half Years and U < 300 Fine1 > f > HIS FIKST WIFE IN DETEOIT J He Explains His Kojalty to tbe Judge Dickson Deterinlned on Gir i v < zing Him a heavy Penalty ° i1 and infirm Wru Felstead a man aged firm and apparently with one fcotr almost al-most in the grave came before Judge Zane yesterday to receive sentence on the charge of polygamy and unlawful NjohajjTtation of both of whichoffenses he was convicted lat term The follOw ing it a verbatim report 0 what oS uurred aaken by Court Reporter Me Gurrin TUE COURT to respondentAt the last term of Lute court you entered a plea toan indictment charging you with polyganilv in one count and inthe other with unlawful cohabitation This morning has been fixed upon for your sentene Have yol anything further to say why the sentence should not be pronounced RESPONDENTr sir I have nothing particular say 1 have left myself iu the hands of the court and all I have gOt to say is Blessed are the merciful lOr ihey shall obtain mercy I would like for you to be as lenient as you can under the circumstances THE CQDST Before pronouncing sentence sen-tence in order thaflmay be thoroughly Informed I wish to make a few inquiries in-quiries How many wives have you 1 I You have a lawful wife I suppose R5Yes s r COURT How many polygamist wives have you REsI have two CouETYou have three thejiv wives altogether t to O iA fJJ ANow at the present time one in Detroit divorced and one here QRow All ntend to give the one d in Detroit a divorce QYou havent given her a divorce vet ANo sir and one here so that I shall ouly have one QI asked you how many pplygamist wivss you have AYes Sirtwo QHad you three at any time 1 AThere id three living now QTwo polygamist wives you have Awo I have married since I came here z QWhen did you marry the last one AI couldnt say the day and date but I guess it was two or three years ago QSomething more than a year af er the Edmunds Law as it is known went into effect AI dont know that how long it was after that r H QA good many years after the law of 1862 bf course went into effect Well you knew that there was a law against polygamy didnt you Aye sir QAnd unlawful cohabitation AYes sir QVell why then did you marry a second infeif you knew there was a law of the United States > against AYour worship 1 knew but at the same time I have made covenants with my Father in Heaven thirtyfour years ago and over that I would Keep His law and obey His commandments I have injured no one to my knowledge 1 have defrauded no one 1 have never been guilty of thieving robbing or stealing IHE CouRTWell the man who commits adultery or keeps a bawdyhouse bawdy-house sells liquor wthout license ne always says he has wronged no one but it is a wrong to society IlEsrosDEM Pardon me your worship wor-ship I have cohabited with no othr mans wife but my own THE COURTYOU have married a second sec-ond wifea third wife when you had two already living RES Married them your worship to tate care of them and their children TUB COUBT These covenants yon speak ofa man has no right to enter into any supposed covenant to violate the laws of his countrydisregard the laws of his country They are supreme and paramount to all others alid it furnishes no excuse These laws against polygamy and unlawful cohabitation are such in substance as exist in all ot II the States and in every civilized country coun-try on earth and you cannot say mat you enter into some covenant violate the laws of your Country which all other people are bound to obey and respect re-spect Are you a citizenot the United Sates RESPosDNTAccordin to the law ef the Edmunds bill your worship came here in 1856 j THE COURT WtllIas > lc you are you naturalized 1 A Yes sir I 4 THE COUET Well a man that dont intend to obey the laws of h s country ought not to bs naturalized He is an enemy tohis country The man who commits treason simply disregards the laws of his country and tres to overthrow over-throw them You by you > e3am pie nd by your conduct disregard the law of your country and so tar as youuare able try to overthrow the laws of your country You are an enemy to your country and yet you have takeli an oath to support those laws and to ob y them thRRSPo D TAnd today your worship wor-ship as I swore then I would be just as willing to day to take up my sword of gun to defend my country that is the Jlnted States that r swore 1 would efend against any for i nTH n-TH COUBT Well you have an opportunity op-portunity of obeying the laws of your country by simply ceasing to do that which the Jaw forbids You have an opportunity to do that ad when this country shall be involved in war why you may show your patriotism still farther by shouldering your musket Yon would show it much better now by simply obeying the laws of your country and teaching ana advising other people to obey them not claiming claim-ing that you belong to borne organization organiza-tion whose laws are paramount to the Laws of your country and obeying them It is your duty to obey the laws of your country MR DICKSOS If your Honor please in this case there is a matter that I think very proper that I should call the attention the Court to before the judgment is pronounced The defendant defend-ant has a wife living i Detroit U Michi I e I r r Ian i 4 i k I J ean Jfc > whom iiewas married in 1852 He left her and came here in 1 879 or 1880 In the pringof 1883 he married his second wife and in October Oc-tober 1883 be married his third wife His lawful wife in Mich has been corresponding with him gan the time of his arrest and was alto to gether ignorant of the fat that he had any otber wife than she One letter into the hands that one of his wives put of tie officers a letter written in May last on the anniversary of his mar isge or of the defendants birthday think in which she speaks of enclosing some present to him as a remembrance the anniversary is avery loving and wifely letter and op june23 1886 the Marshal Mar-shal in the meantime having telegraphed tele-graphed to the Marshal of Detroit to get the full name of the lawful wife and the Marshal there having made in qiiries of her as to her full name and q her date and place of her marriage suspicions were aroused and she wrote the Marshal of this Territory inquiring whetherpr not her husband had taken unto himseif other wives His course ever since he came here has been one of fraud anjl deceit towards his first wife It is proper that that should be called to the attention of tbe court TUB Couar Well I wish to ask you now whether you intend to obey the laws in the future whether you will promis to obey the laws in the future or not RESPONDENT The reason I didnt communicate with my wife was that she didnt I knew she was opposed to it THE Const When did you first leave your first wife your lawful wife AI left in December 1879 THE COURT Never informed her that you had married these two women here ANo sir I didnt want to disturb her mind wilh it QHo is that A I didnt think to disturb her l mind at all about it A 1 had provided for hers and she is provided for now and her children I didnt leave her in destitute THE COURT Well did you think you had done your whole duty to her when you had simply provided for her AHow QDid you think you was discharging discharg-ing your duty as a husband by providing provid-ing 5for her and then going off and m rr > ing other women 7 AWtll if she had come along with me probably I shouldnt nave marred other women I wanted her to come and she wouldnt and then of course I left the property thfre with her and gave her power of attorney to act in my absence I done all I could for her to comforf and cheer her I didnt want to disturb her mind it wasnt simply that 31 wanted to le ve her in an un handsomu way in any shape or form T Lad always loved my wife and do now and love my childrenl love them and they love me THE COURTHow many children have you by your first wife 1 A Seven living two dead Q Seven children And how mary by your second ANone at all QThird ANo sir Tine COURT Well that is a very poor way of showing that you love your wi e going and marr ing two other women akin them A Your worship THE COURTYour conceptions of your duty to your wife and to the laws of your country seem to be rather blunted perverted and incorrect I ask you now in order to give you the bene fit of it if you desire to state whethar you are willing to promise to obey the law hereafter RESPONDENT far as it dont come in contact with my conscience I dont think any law has a right to bind a mans conscience say what we shall Io and what we shall serve the United States THE COURT You think then your conscience may impel you to marry another woman some other time do you RESPONDENT Oh I dont know sirI dont know what I shall do I cant say what I shall do I dont suppose a man of my age anyhow will bother himself any more about such things as those THE COURT Well you have bothered yourself it seems very recently with two additional women when you had a wife and seven children living RESPONDED lived two years a bachelors life to try to get my wife to come but I couldnt liveI didnt lik to live a bachelors life it is not good forman to live alone I had no one to cook my tood and no one to take care of me THE COURT Well it is better a man should be alone than to have two or three wives on his hands and violate the laws ot his country I dontsee anything to palliat your case whatever what-ever It seems that you wilfully vio lated the law knowing that there was a law against it after you had taken he oath of allegiancewillfully disregarded disre-garded the laws of the country urac ticed fraud on your urat wife by marry ing two women without notifying her even that you had done it Under tnvse circumstances I see nothing to excuse you whatever 1 Yoa wU 1 be sentenced on the first count in the indictment to imprisonment imprison-ment in the Penitentiary the term of three years and to pay a fine What i money have you and means 1 KEtpoxDEKT have iio i means I have been working all through my life a poor ulan THE COURT Pay a fine ot 150 and the costs of the prosecution Onlhe second count unlawful cohabitatufa you are sentenced to the Penitentiary of his Territory for the term of six niQ < nths and to pay afine of 150 and the costs of the prosecution which are of course 1 thu costs of the case You will stand committed until the term of your imprisonment im-prisonment expires and until the fine and costs are paid RESPONDENT Turee years and six months TUE COURT The second term will commence at the end of the first the sue months imprisonment comI rdence at the expiration of r imprisonment impris-onment under the first count which is for three years That is all i |