Salt Lake Telegram | 1907-02-28 | Page 3 | If Dedicated, you are Polygamist

If DETECTED, YOU ARE POLYOflMlST Bat If You Harry a Second Time, Secretly, You're Only a Bigamist, Says . Senator Williams' Bill. "If everybody knows yon are married and yon marry again yon are a polygamic polyg-amic and if the fact of your marriage Is not generally known and yon take unto yourself another, spouse, you are a bigamist." Definition of bigamy and polygamy by Senator William N. Williams. Wil-liams. ' By this definition it is hoped to eliminate .to a great extent the word "polygamy" from the statutes. In a seeond effort to have the word expunged, ex-punged, another bill was introduced in the Stste Senate yesterday. It is by Williams. j Regarding polygamy the bill ears: "Every man who has a wife living, and who is publicly known in the community com-munity where he resides, or where the offense is committed, to be a married man, who hereafter marries another woman, whether married or single, and any man who hereafter simultaneously or on the same day marries more than one woman, is guilty of polygamy and shaH be punished by a fine of not more than $500 and by 'imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; but this section shall not extend to any person by reason of any former marriage mar-riage whose wife by such marriage shall have been absent for five successive years, and is not known to such person per-son to be living and is believed by such person to be dead, nor to any person per-son by reason of the, former marriage which shall have been dissolved by a valid decree of a competent court, nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been pronounced pro-nounced void by a valid decree of a competent eonrt cn the ground of nullity nul-lity of the marriage contract." The provision in regard to bigamy follows: "Every person who has a husband or wife living and who is not publicly known in the community where he or she resides, orwhere the offense is committed, com-mitted, to be a married person, who hereafter marries another, whether married mar-ried or single, is guilty of bigamy, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500 and by imprisonment In the State prison for a term of not more than five years." The last slause of this section is the same as that of the preceding one. The bill was referred to the Committee on Judiciary. . "