| Show sa the mm oath case MADE BY S JR is THURMAN for the protection of alie rights of the cormons mormons Mor mons on monday hon y B thurman made the following eloquent plea in the famous treasonable oath case now pending before judge aanderson in salt lake city he baid tion with the case has been irregular owing to my necessary absence and I 1 had not expected to make an argument there are some points however which have not been fully developed ve and to these I 1 will refer this proceeding was indeed a strange one we have passed along in the history to a tune when men speak of a certain people as becoming more liberal and less peculiar and exclusive than they had been in other words they are growing more like other people congress has gone over this ground time and time acain on the suggestion of counsel for the other side congress has had this matter before them for the same purpose sought to be effected ahre and in every instance congress has refused to take the step that the court ia now asked to take the strongest witness on the other side EL W lawrence said the people were growing better and men were saying the mormon question was about solved now on the eve of a great political battlo on the eve of a most important election when it was claimed that the cormons mormons were in the minority it is now asked of the court that the cormons mormons be franchised disfranchised dis there is no foundation for such an outrage go sti tude of men in 1857 and 1858 if you will yet the fact stares you the face that the very things complained of are working out and the cause if ever there was any of this proceeding passed away a generation ago the roan who says that for the past fifteen years we will name that period every man has not had the fullest liberty so far as the cormons mormons concerned are that man has some reason for stating a falsehood it is said that in august or voted the adverse side now this court is asked disfranchise those and all others when I 1 first entered the court room as a spectator in this case was on the stand and he was saying that if he told what he knew his life would be in danger bid your honor believe him did anybody believe him I 1 think not there was falsehood on his face and he is unworthy of belief henry W lawrence was not afraid and he had worked in the endowment house mr lawrence was even anxious to make explanations and thus give vent to his prejudices if the rumors that have bean brought in here as evidence were thrown out there would bo a vast difference in the record the half masting is cited as a disloyal act and the whole mormon people are to be held responsible yet it did not occur in any town throughout the whole territory except on a few places in salt lake and the act is one that even the people here condemn that trailing of the flag has also been shown to be an invention what purpose could there be in it it was either the purest accident or it never happened at all mormon applicants have been naturalized zed for years and recently they have been asked to specially agree to obey certain cert pin laws now it has been discover ahat by objecting to their application in a court of justice mor mons can be prevented from becoming naturalized just what logic there is in the position Z leave for the present mr lawrence told how he hasneg lecter by those who had before pat ionized him what would be done with any leading liberal if he were to join the peoples party he would not only bo ostracized he would be hung in effigy reference has been made to the defense fund was he raising of it unlawful why at any time there was a movement organized and on foot to send cormons mormons Mor mons to the penitentiary tent iary on segregated of fences for extended terms if it had bof been tested and if the court bad not set il aside cormons mormons would now be serving life sentences in violation of law who was then upholding and defending the constitution was it the officers of the government who were enforcing that which the supreme tribunal said was unconstitutional no it was the people who it is now bought to deprive of the rights of citizenship was there treason in this the supreme court said no by upholding them and setting aside the unconstitutional measure it a man has no right to test the law he is robbed of a precious prec ions right of the citizen the people subscribed to test the law as they had a perfect right to and they maintained the constitution by having a construction construct inn put on the law she people even have a right to agi lato for tho T depeal of the law yet where they have done BO their acts have been treasonable there is b ufa one way for the citizen to exercise his right in the courts and that is to test each individual case but to take a man and charge him with all the fancied of fences of others when he applies for naturalization is most absurd to take an innocent man one who never heard of these things and judge him by them is to perpetrate a great injustice it must be true that there are cormons mormons in utah who are loyal to the government who bare their bosoms as readily as any others in defence of their country and yet your honor is requested to shut them out will the court take the responsibility for BO much of persecution of wrong of outrage as is meant by these proceedings I 1 trust that we will have no necessity to find fault with the court for a decision in this case |
