Show FEDERAL JUDGES IN UTAH we have carefully avoided up to the present time saying anything of the late homicides at east weber bursil our silence simply arose from the fact that we wished to see the matter assume a definite shape but now that judicial authority has spoken on the subject it demands notice A brief statement of the facts are areas as follows some time since isaac S potter commonly known as ike potter is said to have stolen and killed an ox belonging to a person living on east weber he was arrested he requested time for trial which was granted he giving bonds soon after he absconded but in ft a short time returned in company with some indians and others who bore the reputation of belonging to a band of desperadoes and thieves of which he was the reputed chief I 1 its sald said on good authority that he threatened to clean out the settlement of Co C oal oai alville ville with the indians but whether that is true or not that in connection with the fact of his having arrived in company with indians said to be members of the notorious black hawks band was lelent sufficient to give much weight in fact absolute certainty to huoh a statement among people who felt themselves in common with other parts of the territory in daily danger of indian outrages after his return we understand he stole and killed a poor mans only cow and for this he and two others named charies charles wilson and john walker were arrested it is alle nile alleged C cred by some that after they were in custody they tried to escape were followed and two of them were killed while one of them was seriously wounded on the other hand it is said that they were taken out and shot a thing that ia is improbable on the face it because if they had been it that all three would have been killed whereas one of the gang 0 was mercifully spared to bear testimony in the matter our own opinion is that they were trying to escape and that the citizens terribly exasperated and despairing t of obtaining justice from the federal courts of which more hereafter became summary executioners execution ers and killed two while the third escaped with wounding and we think it highly probable weighing all the circumstances that vhey they would have killed them if they had not tried to Z 0 escape to fully understand this subject so as to be able to form a righteous judgment upon it will require some investigation ti and explanation in the first place we may safely say that this territory almost since alnee it organization has been afflicted with a class of Federal judges rdo have striven with the most roost assiduous pertinacity to do everything in their power under color of law against the peace happiness safety and good order of the law abiding citizens of the territory this isa matter of history and we have the documents to sustain it there have been some honorable exceptions to whom weare we are wil ling very willing to accord all needful credit and though some may think our terms rather strong they are not so harsh as we may be compelled to ta use and sustain for if ever a community was cursed with a judiciary imbecile corrupt base unprincipled and vigorous only to do evil the inhabitants of the territory of utah have been this we design to show at a future date in the next nest place this isaac S potter who was killed bears a reputation known to every man in the territory of three years standing in the community as that of a desperado thief agent of indian ravagers rava raya gere and accomplice if not the actual murderer in at least one murder he has been a convicted felon tried sentenced and confined for his crimes and released from his confinement on a writ of habeas corpus issued by judge drake a federal judge and tried by him in a most unusual and extraordinary manner on the loth of march 1863 isaac S potter was indicted for grand larceny before the probate court of utah county he was found guilty aud and fined in four hundred dollars on the lith of the hame same month he was indicted for murdering thomas jefferson barney this barney after receiving his death wound admitted to having been veen a member of a band baud of thieves of which potter was declared to be the chief and confessed that the band was leagued with indians forthe worst purposes potter through informality in the proceedings on this count was acquitted but was indicted on another charge of grand larceny besides that for which he was convicted on the loth if we remember rightly he was committed to the penitentiary for five years now this desperado thief accused murderer and ally of indians was released by judge drake in the knowledge of these facts without feith felth out the presence of counsel on either side his greatness in the judiciary and in legal lore being it is a presumable more than sufficient for the occasion and here we would like to ask aak in this connection what scoundrel thief i murderer or villain has hag ever sought immunity for his crimes in this territory when convicted by a territorial court who has not been liberated by federal judges and on some pretext or other turned loose on society to prey on the industrious peaceful and orderly citizens we ask information on this point Is it not a fact that a futile attempt was made last winter to punish some souie of the band of this same potter and that they were released by judge titus by writ of habeas corpus has such not been the rule for the last thirteen years and weighing all the circumstances cum stances viewing that such has been the rule knowing that judge drake released this very isaac S potter who boasted of having escaped forty two times from the punishment to which he was justly entitled alk aik anu that judge titus released members of his band on writ of habeas corpus who had been convicted of crime he well understanding their character is it any wonder that the feeling should prevail in portions of this territory we cannot get protection from tilo tac federal courts they constantly release upon us criminals thieves and murderers whose boast is that the federal judges are their friends we must protect ourselves and administer summary punishment to the guilty wo we do not wonder at these men being killed we do wonder that it has been borne BO so long and we also wonder sometimes that an outraged and justly incensed people do not administer summary punishment to the legal and official protectors and abettors abutters abet tors of buch euch criminals we have in hand such a mass of documents and authenticated data concerning the outrageous acts of some of these federal judges that we must postpone another dose until another number giving it as our calm unbiased opinion that the history pf af the judicial proceedings in this territory is unparalleled in the history of the world we do not wish to be understood as including all our federal judges in I 1 these strictures As we observed there are honorable exceptions |