Show THE ri falus an interview with george C bates washington IV ASHINGTON jan 29 1872 1873 enat ehat TRUMPET OF JERICHO the mormon problem seems to be constantly increasing in perplexity the pacific railroad has long been completed the locomotive whistle has for two years yearb been heard on the shores of salt lake but Mor mondon has not been overwhelmed nor non polygamy been abolished the walls of the seraglios lios of the utah turks which were to have been made to fall by the shriek of the steam herald of civilization I 1 as in the hebrew story the walls of jericho fell at the sound of the trumpet truda peti still firmly stand and the latron strength ath of these walls is yet very adry great they seem to have been cemented in molten gold 0 THE STATEMENT or OP GEORGE 0 bate SATE batna batea 3 i mt inet on thursday your form former ei I 1 tow low niman george georgej Q stes baes Bt es now united states Distri district bt attorney for tho tb territory of utah beis beds be is hero here jy by the ohp order of the Attar attorney riby tiby general genera toab toad tempt temp tto to extricate ex the united states government vern ment dt from the very serious lega difficulties ino iho which it has been brought as 11 would seem beem by inconsiderate action at the instigation perhaps of overzealous over zealous and ignorant advisers I 1 shall bhail here endeavor to reproduce bome some notes of this conversation as a matter of public interest at tho time without intending ho however vever in any way to commit the E evening vt ni n g lest t or its correspondent to views here given all the facts or of the following statement are derived in part par from mr bates and in part from b other tiler sources which I 1 have deemed equally trustworthy but as ta ceab information informational A I 1 pm am ache 6 t he mercy e r Y any ady ing hysek from r n 1 personal no knowledge of theland oi of the t bee shortly after the chicago fire mp bates was wab was wab appointed United states drs brict attorney for the Territory of utah he had bad served insl insi milar capacities for a considerable peri perl period odin in Michigan many yearb years eans ears ago and wab was w aa well known as an able lawyer of the old school he wa waa something i more imore than a decayed and do de crepin politician who is generally a lawyer only in name and he carried to utah the experience of bf an active and successful career at the bar of nearly a quarter ofa of a century helas he was conser a dative man unlikely to be led astray by the tricks of a police court or the partisan arguments of judges bitting sitting politically to advocate a cause rather than judicially to interpret the laws as they found them the speech of mr bate bates at his induction into the duties of his office created a very favorable impression throughout utah and wherever else it was made known in it he declared it to be his intention with gods blessing to perform the delicate and sacred functions of his officio with such firmness equity calmness and candor with such equal and exact justice toward all the people of utah whether mormon gentile or jew without regard to caste religion bex sex or sect as to extort from them all the tha commendation of the old english bishop that in spite of crafty tricksters trick law after all nil 11 is that science whose voice is tha the harmony of the world whose seat is the bosom of god the greatest are not above nor beyond its power or its process the humblest are not beneath its protecting arm and he further added accustomed from my youth to regard gardias its ministers upon the bench as engaged in duties not less sacred than those of the minister of the altar of the living god I 1 shall bow with deference always to the rulings and decisions of the bench save only when they are overruled altered or reversed by the supreme judicial tribunal of the united states or the wise action of an intelligent congress dongress acting in its capacity as the lawful guardian of its rising ward WHAT MR MB BATES FOUND THERE CONFLICT OF territorial AND FEDERAL jurisdiction apon assuming the prop proper er tu notions functions of his hib office mr bates found that the former law officers odthe of the govern government men had wrought almost inextricable and inexplicable confusion in the tha law matters of the territory and the government ern ment tp to give greater clearness to 0 o subsequent explanation I 1 here cite portions of the two statutes to which sa so much muck publicity la has recently peen heen kiven given and concerning which there has been boen so much ignorant legal exegesis t e f I 1 T 1 i 4 41 1 11 ti tr 11 tuff T ifie w STATES liaw iian m oh the laday taday of july 1861 J pre president 1 lincoln approved an act of con gress grebs entitled an act het to prevent the practice practice of polygamy in the territories of the united states the text of which so far as it relates to the chief mormon indictments is at follow follows be iti ill enacted ag aa that any person having a husband or wife living wilo wiio shall marry another peran whether married or single in a territory of the united Sta other place over which the united states hav have exclusive x I 1 usi v e jurs jurns diction shall be adjudged guilty of bigamy mid and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by fine line not exceeding five hundred dollars and by imprisonment for a term not exceed exceeding ino nive five years yearb 0 THE MORMON territorial STATUTE something more than ten years prior to this thib abet action on march 6 1862 brigham young youngs ot at thai that time the tho husband of bf eight wives and governor of the territory of utah by the appointment of the confirmation of the united states senate affixed hi his signature to a bill of the territorial Legli legislature lature latura af utah making it a law which wa was entitled in part an act 1 in relation to 10 crimes and their punish ment and under the subtitle sub title of which ses bes against justice morality and decency are found the following sections see see sec 31 every person who commits the crime of adultery shall be puni punt labed by imprisonment nou not exceed exceeding ing inq years and not beag lees than three years or by fine not abot exceeding one tho thou thon thousand sand usand dollars and not lees lees leeb than three hundred dollars or by both aine aane and an dIm imprisonment at the discretion of 01 the court and aud when the crime la is committed between parties anyone any one of whom is married both are guilty of adultery and shall be punished accordi fagI Y N prosecution for adultery can be ba commenced except on the complaint ot the husband or wife sec seo see sec 32 jf if any man or woman no not being married to each other shall shail I 1 lewdly and lasciviously cohabit together or if any man or woman married or unmarried marri edis is guilty of open and gross lewdness and designedly makes any open and indecent or obscene exposure of his bis or her perdon person or of the person of ano another lher every such person so shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding ten years tears and not noi less than six months and fined not more than one thousand dollars and not less than one hundred dollars or both at the discretion of the court the legislative assembly which pass passed d these note acte were all Mormon sand each of the thirteen en members of the upper house were in poss possession eslon at that time of more than one wife and of the lower house all but three members were polygamists these three have since become polygamists te although believers in th the 0 mormon faith before these theae are the two principal statutes which have excited so much recent public discussion the peculiar construction of which by some of the law onn odd cers carb of utah has been the occasion of so much indignant comment by the leading lawyers of the country LEGAL CHAOS IN UTAH mr bates upon arriving thero there found that there was not a single cause pending in g in the courts under the act ot of congress 9 ress of 1862 above cited prohibiting polygamy oly gamy or in which the united 9 stated was a party or in which the acts of congress as such were involved he also found that the territorial supreme court had bad decided that in all criminal cases from which there was no appeal it was a united states court assuming thus in an sin extra judicial and unauthorized manner a champlion like jurisdiction this territorial court also claimed that all its grand and petit jurors aurora must be and had been drawn as a united states jury under the law of congress although the court itself was not a united states court and had no authority to look to other laws than the statutes of the territory by which it was created and the general common law theland of the cour thad assigned and most peculiar duties to tho the united states district attorney mr bates discovered that the judges had determined it to be his hla duty to prosecute all criminal causes pending in every district of the terri ferrii tory although cases caseb of purely local charac charactering terIn which the whited beatea states had no concern that he must prosecute Brigl brigham ihm young for lascivious cohabitation in the united baates court as well as a common strumpet for breach i 1 j I amm ame y C f i ya a of the tha th neace peace in the saw dust quat of a te tc bitoria rit lit orial I 1 police court 1 he fhe was assigns to the duties performed in your ow city by united states attorney gloves states attorney charles reed beed and fo merly by the departed grosvenor Gro avenor pro vou eluting ting attorney of the police cour he was to prosecute all sorts of for all manner of infraction of pure territorial laws the offenses in question being defined and punishable only b utah statutes he was to do all th for the united states I 1 and in addlia to provide his own jail and penitent ary since the united states had none the mormon territorial legislature Legisla tur tun acting in apparent harmony with th judicial decisions of the federal ofal cers had determined that if the unite states state government was vas resolved to con eor duct the prosecutions of the polle courts of the territory it itt might als ais undertake to pay the expenses of th judicial procedure consequently th territorial legislature refused to mak mab any appropriations of money for th territorial courts which had assumed to be exclusively federal courts th result was and is that the unite states marshal has incurred an ex pense of some eighteen thousand dol renso rense lars jars I 1 a I 1 rs fort rok the ordinary y expenses of th thi cowls aud the care of bf prisoners anc that the united stales states la Is utterly with dut out funds to the pros against the le leading mormons cormons and this thib loo while the mormon i leaden avail thein thern themselves silves of the best besl legal coun bel bei the country affords regardless 0 expense the indictments themselves them selve seive run as bolln folios s the people of the united states sta for foz the 0 utah I 1 dud elud end against the statutes ol of theu thet the territory arl of ota Uta hand hana the ahe peace am dignity there therea th ereo cir clr aegan dj 1 process which lupori its vry vory tlde la merely a dure d L ire of il a teri gerl erro 0 m ra if tc be cap conducted ducted ducia ex exclusively by federa omi officers cers in ia conflict with alf the precedents of the territories and Ls it would appear in violation both of th act of Territory the and of bf the states state the grand giand thib thia chih complex plex court coort ha bw found all nil the indictments now cudei prosecution The tho question of 0 the legality and validity pf af its organization la Is soon boon to be ba tested in 14 the united st states a t supreme boutt ana I 1 pm am informed formed i on the best beat authority that within a very few days the supreme tribunal of the nation will decide that tb this jury Is utterly invalid and unlawful and that all nil its pretended acts sets are arg simply personal trespasses without shadow of authority or effect in law it Is no wonder in consideration of these circumstances that mr bates appeals to congress to decide whether anarchy shall continue in utah or life ind aud and aud property shall be protected by liy law there whether in that beautiful and richest of all the T territories e a of t the h e united states all sects castes and religions reli rell giona glona shall bow alike 1 to the silent majesty of the law or crime erima shall be of justice justlee u B tice murders most foul ba unpunished I 1 a je d because b e the utah authorities will not do their duty and the united states slates cannot CONFLICT or OF jurisdiction the peculiar feature of these polygamous persecutions in a legal aspect is the notable manner in which the judges have violated all the ordinary rules of legal interpretation in attempting to convict mormons cormons of crimes under statute enacted by mormon legislatures aae designed for the punishment of offenses offense which in all equity and sound reason cannot be considered to comprehend compre henc mormon polygamy all of the indictments for polygamy were framed unde the first statute of 1852 1952 above quoted that was a 6 statute made by istas signed by a polygamists governor who is the chief criminal now unde indictment and it has been summered buffered ered ened ba b mormon legislatures to remain fo nineteen years upon mormon books while no suggestions for its abo or modification have ever beer made the gist of the offenses of thi statute according to the intention 0 the legislature was manifestly the crime of fornication and by no method of equitable construction can it bo be con to comprehend polygamous mar ariage the oni only y similar statute in th whole country bears the date of 1790 and la is in the code of massachusetts of that year this statute has beer cons constantly tan aly construed to mean offense onne onie nse nae ag against ainest public decency and not secre seere cohabitation A FAT walne walle one pecullar peculiar and s circumstance connected connect edwith with these esthe fact that under the law as inter prated the united states marshal h empowered to serve every writ for evera evor petty otense offense under territorial statutes tatu tes as aa well as united stated laws throughout the entire territory which will result fulti if he ever gets his fees in giving him an aa annual income equal to four times the salary of the president erit ezit of the united states JUDGE aikeen KEAN ai 31 nean mr bates jn general speaks very kindly of bf the federal omm off meers officers of the Teril terii territory tory notwithstanding the fact that this peculiarly constituted grand jury his has since its departure for ashington washington VT solely at direct direel order of the attorney general presented him for endeavoring to obstruct the due administration of justice mr bates thinks that most of the officers are men of honest intentions and clean records but declares de clarea that they have been lamentably deficient in legal knowledge of judge mckean mr bates says that he believes him to be a very pure and honest man from other sources than mr bates learn I 1 learn that the chief trouble with judge mckean is that he has a mission and that he considers athis it his judicial duty to advocate the claims of Metho methodism dispi and to batter down the walls of the he harems harem of the utah turks rather than impartial clyto jy to interpret the laws of Territory tha as aa he finds them judge judged mckean was at one time a methodist prak preacher chor ehor and he be seems to be ba unable to get got out a of f his bis clerical harness prad pr to separate old time tim e denominational en from froal hib blk judicial duties he Is lff moreover considered to be bb the particular adjutant pf af the methodist chaplain benite senate the cherev rev nev jr dr newman hewman naw known c the 11 |