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Show THE EDMUND'S BILL. Following is the text of the Edmund's bill introduced into the Senate on December 12th, referred to the Judiciary committee, amended and reported back to the Senate on January 24th, with a recommendation that it pass. It is the bill that was before the Senate on Wednesday, Feb. 15. A bill to amend section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States; in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes. Section 1.-Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows, namely: "Every person who has a husband or wife living who, in a territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, hereafter marries another, whether married or single, and any man who hereafter simultaneously or on the same day, marries more than one woman, in a territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, is guilty of polygamy, and shall 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 whose husband or wife by such marriage shall have been absent for five successive years, and is not known to such person to be living, and is believed by such person to be dead, nor to any person by reason of any 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 void by a valid decree of a competent court, on the ground of nullity of the marriage contract. Sec. 2.-That is any male person, in a territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction hereafter cohabits with more than one woman, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more that $100, or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court. Sec. 3.-That counts for any or all of the offenses named in sections one and two of this act may be joined in the same information or indictment. Sec. 4.-That in any prosecution for bigamy, polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation, under any statute of the United States, it shall be cause of challenge to any person drawn or summoned as a juryman or talesman first, that he is [unreadable] unlawful to or that he is or has been guilty of an offense punishable by either of the foregoing sections, or by section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States-or the act of July 1st, 1882, entitled ‘An act to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the territories of the United States, and other places, and disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah," or second, that he believes it right for a man to have more than one living and undivorced wife at the same time, or to live in the practice of cohabiting with more than one woman; and any person appearing or offered as a juror or talesman, and challenged on either of the foregoing grounds, may be questioned on his oath as to the existence of such cause of challenge, and other evidence may be introduced bearing upon the questions raised by such challenge; and this question shall be tried by the court. But as to the first ground of challenge before mentioned, the person challenged shall not be bound to answer if he shall say upon his oath that he declines on the ground that his answer may tend to criminate himself; and if he shall answer as to said first ground, his answer shall not be given in evidence in an criminal prosecution against him for any offense named in sections 1 or 2 of this act; but if he declines to answer on any ground, he shall be rejected as incompetent. Sec. 5.-That the President is hereby authorized to grant amnesty to such classes of offenders, guilty before the passage of this act of bigamy, polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation, on such conditions and under such limitations as he shall think proper, but no such amnesty shall have effect unless the conditions thereof shall be complied with. Sec. 6.-That the issue of bigamous or polygamous marriages, known as Mormon marriages, in cases in which such marriages have been solemnized according to the ceremonies of the Mormon sect, in any Territory of the United States, and such issue shall have been born before the first day of January A. D. 1883, are hereby legitimated. Sec. 7. That no polygamist, bigamist, or any person cohabiting with more than one woman, and no woman cohabiting with any of the persons described as aforesaid in this section, in any territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, shall be entitled to vote at any election held in any such Territory or other place, or be eligible for election or appointment to or be entitled to hold any office or place of public trust, honor, or emolument in, under, or for any such Territory or place, or under the United States. Sec. 8. That all the registration and election offices of every description in the Territory of Utah are hereby declared vacant, and each and every duty relating to the registration of voters, the conduct of election, the receiving or rejection of votes, and the canvassing and returning of the same, and the issuing of certificates or other evidence of election in said Territory, shall, until other provision be made by the Legislative Assembly of said Territory as is hereinafter by this section provided be performed under the existing laws of the United States and of said Territory by proper persons who shall be appointed to execute such offices, and perform such duties by a board of five persons, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, all of whom shall not be members of one political party, a majority of whom shall be a quorum. The members of said board so appointed by the President shall each receive a salary at the rat of $1,000 per annum, and shall continue in office until the Legislative Assembly of said Territory shall make provision for filling said offices as hereto authorized. The secretary of the Territory shall be the secretary of said board, and keep a journal of its proceedings and attest the action of said Board under this section. The canvass and return of all the votes at elections in said Territory for members of the Legislative Assembly thereof shall also be returned to said board, which shall canvass all such returns and issue certificates of election to those persons who, being eligible for such election shall appear to have been lawfully elected, which certificates shall be the only evidence of the right of such persons to act in such Assembly; but each house of such Assembly, after its organization, shall have power to decide upon the elections and qualifications of its members. And at, or after the first meeting of said Legislative Assembly whose members shall have been elected and returned according to the provisions of this act, said Legislative Assembly may make such laws, conformable to the organic act of said Territory and not inconsistent with other laws of the United States, as it shall deem proper concerning the filling of the offices in said Territory declared vacant by this act. |