| Show AN ILLEGAL conviction thene is a man now incarcerated in the penitentiary named alonzo colton who has been confined for eight months who is suffering a g severely from rheumatism and who is under illegal sentence of five years imprisonment his hia case makes a shameful stain upon the reputation of the second judicial district court mirt of this territory lonzo colton was indicted and tried at beaver before Atso clate justice Bo boreman reman remau for lewd and lascivious cohabitation tho alleged crime was committed with his hia plural wife the case aia was 4 an attempt to punish polygamy an eunce against a statute of the united states under a law of df the territory of utah unable to reach the man leg legally ailys allys offic officials lais sent here by the government to magnify the law reached under the cloak of a 16 local enactment to violate law and assassinate sas bas sinate ju justice justlee sElee setting at naught that honor and dignity and probity naturally expected in representatives of tho the united states the statute tinder under which this infamous prosecution was brought reads as follows sec sic SEO SEC 32 if any man or woman not being married to each other lewdly and lasciviously cohabit together such person so offending shallie punished by imprisonment nol not exceeding ten years and not less than six fined not more thad one thousand dollars and not less les than one hundred dollars or both at the dis discretion of the court the evident intention of the legislature which enacted this law was to td protect the public morals by punishment for openly lewd and indecent conduct this was not alleged against the deren defendant dat he was simply living and associating with his div wives ha and the oance odd ence with which he was charged and for which be was sentenced to five live years imprisonment in the penitentiary tent iary was waa simply with his own wife married to him by a chu church ach der dbr ceremony emony which they both held sa sacred cred ored the prosecution i and tho sentence were both in open opell violation ioa loa of the principles that always govern re and courts with any claim to judicial honor they W were ere an outrage to co common mon sunse sense ali and buff lelent sufficient to disgrace forever la a the eyed eyes of the dar bar bar and dud the thinking public the officials who figured iii in the disreputable tabie table business i alonzo coit colt colton on was waa a T mormon that was wak his crime he practiced practised a part of his big reil rell religion gloO belief without disguise the prosecution and the court were antii antl anti I tromon mormon to the last d gree they could not touch polygamy by the only law that made it an of nence lence so they determined to rea chIt unlawfully they knew that they were prosecuting a man under a statute which had no application to his case but they pushed their disgraceful attack to the bitter end and succeeded in i getting one mur mor mormon mons shut but up in the penitentiary what a glorious achievement whit what a cemarka remarkable blei biel display of IL legal al and judicial ac acumen timen A public prosecutor and a district judge joining to convict a mala mau of an ail of ence of which they knew he was not euil cull ty but this was wag not the worst at the time alonzo colton was convicted and sentenced under a prostitution tit ution of the act above named that law had been wiped from the statute book and had no actual existence and those united states officials knew it the attorney who pressed the prosecution and the judge who pronounced the sentence knew the law had bad been repealed and were angey angry that it was obsolete could official vileness vil vit eness enesa any further go the defendant was by counsel if he had obtained competent legal advice and assistance he would not have gone to 0 prison the neglect to secure this was his only fault but butt was it within the tha lines of honor or even eveh common decency for a judge of a district court of the united states stales to take advantage of the defendant ants helpless condition and blot out five years of his social ilfe life because no one was present to plead his cause at bar this thia shameful act of the judge at beaver was the last relic of the illegal policy inaugurated by that mission jurist who came to utah with the avowed intention of making war upon mormonism and executing its leader and who is now so low and despised that there is none to do him honor except in irony euch buch deeds should put a brand upon the brow of those who perpetrate them which shall never be effaced but prove a bar to their entrance into non lon honorable arable circles and to the exercise of judicial functions any more for ever the confinement of alonzo colton in the penitentiary is a standing reproach steps should betaken betoken be taken at once for his release either by habeas corpus or petition to the executive for his pardon pardons his hia case ase nse should bo be properly investigated without delay i and we are confident that thit w when hep hen the whole shameful facts are presented to the govenor or to the supreme court of the territory the illegally convicted and bente sentenced nied sufferer will be immediately set at liberty if not there is no justice to be obtained from federal authority in utah |
