| Show tiie THE utan UTAH PROBLEM A REPLY TO THE statements MADE brade A AND ND ARGUMENTS arese PRESENTED BY MOSES hosh S THATCHER TIIE tile LAW AND THE tue THE FACTS OF GO GOVERNOR VERINon MURRAYS controversy WITH THE MORMONS A REVIEW OF TILL THE WHOLE CASE FROM TIIE THE LEGAL standpoint THATCHERS thatchers ens MISTAKES SALT LAKE CITY feb 11 11 1 to the editor of the inter ocean to those who have only casually given attention to the utah problem there may seem to be a necessity for a reply to so elaborate a statement as that of mr moses Thatch thatcher er cr a proof of which Is now before me lue in deference to that yiew view I 1 enter upon the discussion while mr thatcher assumes the authorship and responsibility of the letter over his signature its real paternity is known to be the labor of the mormon lobby in washington co consisting n of delegate cai Cal neMr neur richards a young mormon attorney of much ambition mr thatcher and at least one other apostle of the mormon hierarchy besides the regular church attorneys resident in that city the substance of their letter has already appeared in the press dispatches in the shape of an interview with delegate calne caine and in responding to it I 1 am ine lne meeting eting the tire fire of the entire mormon battery this ju justifies what might otherwise seem an unnecessary not notice ice of its contents it is not often that we can bunch tle the the game so as to make one shot do effective service and now that the opportunity un ty 0 offers to make avi ahl mr r thatcher suffer vicariously for the washington Alor mormon nion hion agents in general I 1 propose to crucify this bantling of the crowd for him personally I 1 have the same pity that follows a weak sinner who is the dupe of stronger men in the language of 01 tho the western hunter I 1 dont intend to leave enough of the the body of this nominal offender towar to warrant any effort to skin him for f future suture use by any one 4 TO BEGIN the letter ietter is a labored attempt to re fute lute certain portions of governor mur ays pays j nays message inessa luessa e to that body which by the grace bithe of the general government is permitted to exercise the functions of a legislative assembly for the territory of utah and when we ve reflect that in the conflict which mr thatcher Thatch cr assumes exists between the Gover norand that body the former fairly represents the general government of which he is the agent while the latter only claims to represent a handful ul of people whose boast is that they are not I 1 of the world but are a peculiar people the fling in the opening paragraph of his communication seems as ludicrous as its taste is questionable passing this mr thatchers prelude to the discussion oi of the message Is a sad commentary on his subsequent statements when he affirms in such mock heroic style that lie he who stands on truth though friendless and alone is firmer and stronger strobl er than legions backed up only by religious and political expediency resting on the crumbling and ever shifting ting foundations of insincerity and falsehood 11 lie ile bunglingly strives to express endress the idea which a reader of the bible as all apostles should beald mr thatcher is an apostle according accordia to the gospel of mormonism would would have better stated by quotation from that good old authority that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the stron strong but such such affirmations of self devotion lose all their force when he who indulges in them assumes that his cause only is the cause of truth when in fact the assumption is but the bluster of one who while eulogizing truth in general intends to enthrone eniero e falsehoods in its place this in the language of my priestl yop opponent I 1 anent 1 I shall show further on to IT 0 oneace one accustomed cus tomed to the METHOD OF controversy the assertion of a direct falsehood tor lor a litteral truth creates no surprise conversant as I 1 have been for over a quarter of a century with the various forms of discussion in which aich latitude of assertion is often used as argument I 1 never yet have observed til the c perfect abandon of falsehood exemplified to the extent as in the utterances of the champions of Mor mormonism moril sm there is a depth in its depravity and enjoyment of luxury of lying which finds no illustrations lust rations by others when one of them intends to distinguish himself particularly in the perpetration of unusual statements misstatements mis he tle tie will vill almost uniformly begin the work as does our I 1 apostle by an apostrophe to truth I 1 I 1 think I 1 shall establish before I 1 close this letter that your apostolic correspondent A has not allowed the reputation of his brethren in III this respect to suffer by any omission to conform to their regulation standard mr bir thatcher charges governor murray ray yay with misstating the existing laws of the territory in several instances and his hla first specification under this assignment oi of errors as a lawyer would put it is that he asks the repeal of the lawmaking law making esche escheats cheats es atts result to the perpetual emigrating rund fund company THE EXACT LANGUAGE OF THEMES THE MESSAGE IS 18 1 I ask the repeal of the law incorporating the perpetual emigrating fund Corn company pany panr and the repeal of all laws making es cheats result to this company bacasse by this law the whole system of immigration is placed under the control of church authority etc the apostle who condescends to enlighten you with his inspiration adroitly declines to say that the law which trie governor assails particularly in this quotation has been repealed but he introduces an incidental recommendation men dation in it viz that all laws ma making k es cheats result to the company because says he be this law was repealed eight years ago and quotes section of the compiled laws of 1876 showing that in the final distribution ol of an estate without heirs the property goes to the territory for the support of common schools as the common schools are but church schools this leaves the governors objection to the same in full force but no matter what ille the message was seeking to overthrow will be seen in looking lookin gat eat at the act f found in the compiled laws of utah 1876 sections to inclusive the same volume quoted by mr mr thatcher which reads as follows an act pro providing vidi for the magnabe ment of certain pro property pert pent sec 1 be it enacted enacted by the gover norland legislative assembly of the territory af utah that the probate judge in each county Is empowered and required to take possession of all property left by any deceased or abscond ent person erson when there is no lesal legal claimant awn known or sufficiently near t to 0 see to it in season and shall forthwith appraise and make two lists of said sald property and keep one on tile and f furnish one to the treasurer of Perpetual the emigrating in fund gec gee sec bec 2 it is hereby made the duty of every person having such property in his possession or knowing it to be in irl the possession of any other person to report the property forthwith and ana the name of the person in possession thereof to the probate judge of the county where said sald poss possessor essof Is at the time and said judge shall take possession of such property as soon as practicable ti I 1 and proceed proceed therewith as required above sec see 3 at the earliest practicable date the probate judge shall place said pr property perty or the avails thereof in the possession of said fund the thereof to remain there until proven away b by a legal claimant when said judge s shall shail all ali give in an order th on the treasurer of the f und fund sec see 4 A failure to comply with the requisitions of this act may be punished by costs daina damages yes and line adjudged by any court having jurisdiction this act never in terms provided for escheat ant it did provide for the management of property of deceased or abscond ent persons and required that where no legal clair claimant nant is known it should be placed placed in the treasury of the company ia until 11 proven away by a legal claimant all that the act cited by hr dir thatcher proposes to do is in t the e cases of deceased persons without kindred not likely to occur of ten in utah wherein the territory is made the lagal lagai claimant who may prove away the property from the company how that statute can be construed as a repeal of the first is past ordinary comprehension the statute of 1876 only touches the final disposition of the property a thing not provided for at all before th statute that was asked to be repealed repeated was one that had not fixed the property finally but had pro vipedu for its possession and use prior to its ultimate disposition there is no repeal implied or otherwise of the act giving the use of property to the CO company T p B but u t aill alil the act it which mr thatcher recites in re latiin to es cheated estates professes esses to deal with the estates of deceased persons only what has he to say to the governors objection to th the e law which enables the company to take the property of persons abscond ent under this law as it stands today the company not only have the right to the use and possession of pr property perty until after a search for heirs and kli kil kindred vired which can be made to cover hail half a lif ilfe c disclosed the fact tu to a mormon probate court that the property should he be deemed all au es may retain and use the property of an abscond ent person without limit as to time the governor was not dealing with es cheats alone III in his message he was treating of a line of legislation which had begun in 1851 1831 was enlarged in 1854 1834 and res nes enacted in which this church creature LIKE A GIGANTIC cuttlefish laid its strong hand upon the property ro 3 r of the living livial and the dead abl abi alike k e and n confiscated it for its own uses use mr ir thatcher Tb atcher says it has consented to give up to the common schools such property as it has acquired f from rom estates after a decree has been entered in their favor but he be is discreetly silent on the real abuse to which the executive recommendation referred escheats Es cheats never did vest in the company and etwas it was the policy of giving it control and use of such property and a far greater abuse the right to confiscate to its use the tile property of the living that he lie was seeking to have overthrown mr Thatch thatcher cr contents himself with vath the superficial criticism of a mere inere incident to tile tiie recommendation which when exposed will be found as aa untruthful as it is trilling the apostle to the gelli gentiles tiles proceeds to say that governor murrays Mur rays statement that the law vests the eglesias courts with authority which ina lna may only be exercised III in the united stat states by the civil courts is entirely without f run dation iu in fact now what was said in the ines message sage is this 1 I ask the repeal of chapter 5 ot of compiled laws of utah 1870 be cause unwarranted unwarranted ea and dangerous process are therein granted to a church corporation because it Is a law respecting the establishment of religion because it vests ecclesiastical co courts arts with authority which may really be exercised in the united states by the civil courts courts bandy bando and if for no other reason because congress angress by express statute approved july 1862 1861 1 disapproved it and an d yet et the legislature of utah re enacted itin it in the compiled laws of isto 11 out of this paragraph the apostle picks the sentence I 1 quoted from him and then denies the statement I 1 affirm that in doing so he not only falsifies fal fai silles the law but it must have been done with the knowledge of not only the law but the practice under it the statute reads section 3 page 13 2 3 compiled laws 1876 it is aa also aiso 0 declared that said church does does and shall po possess sess and enjoy the power and authority in and of itself to originate make pass and establish bious ordinances laws customs and criterions crite rions for the good order safety government conveniences comfort coni fort and ind control of said church and for the punishment or forgiveness of all offenses relative to fellowship according to church covenants that the pursuit of bliss and the enjoyment of mf life in every capacity of public association and domestic happiness temporal expansion parisi on or spir spar spiritual igual increase upon the earth in may a not legally be questioned now ia if these powers are to be exercised and this statue is passed to the end that they may not legally be questioned and it is part of the s system stem that a judgment of an ecclesiastical sias sias court is binding as a church covenant is not tile the statement of the message beyond a question correct let me give a PRACTICAL INSTANCE OF ITS EXERCISE some years since a gentleman came to my oatice office in this city stating that he had a controversy about a yown town town lot with another party and desired my professional services I 1 found in hi his s posses possession sion slon a judgment drawn in the usual form attested by the hand seal of the clerk of the high Council the highest tribunal of the ehe mormon lormon church except the command of its president adjudging the property in dispute to belong be ou 1 to his opponent and ordering my client to make a conveyance of the same my client was a mormon and wished to know if he could disobey this judgment I 1 advised him that while the church claimed authority under its charter to control all its members I 1 did dot regard it as binding to resist it if he chose upon this advise he acted and on his ref refusal a suit was brought in the united states court to compel him to make inake the conveyance tile the case was tried in the district court where my client was successful was appealed to the supreme court of the territory where the tile judgment was affirmed there as I 1 supposed the matter was ended as my client had established his rights by the judgment jud ment of the highest court of the united ignited states in the territory but to rny my utter surprise about a year after I 1 found that the church authorities had forced my client to obey the mandate of the ecclesiastical sias tribunal after the civil courts had sustained his rights at every point the decree and j judgment which proved itself superior to the deliberate adjudication ot of the supreme coult of utah I 1 have now in ia my possession when therefore an apostle of the latter day church undertakes to deny to those who like myself have had anaste of church arbitrators in questions of fellowship 11 we know the value of the denial it is made for the marines THE DOWER QUESTION the apostle says I 1 that the governors comments on oil tile the dower question give an entirely false idea of tile the property rights of women in utah for once he does not say that the governor misstated tile the fact when he said there was no dower in utah after admitting that there ia no dower nor in the language of tile the message any e equivalent t 1 far for it he flies off to discuss the p property rights of married women it is very poor satisfaction to a married woman who has no property ert y to tell her if some one will give her he r property it shall be hers that is the substance of mr thatchers Thatcher 8 statement the governor asked that the faithful ua wife should have a right to a certain portion of the properio prope property rig rii of the marria marriage c recognized and antt secured to her mr lir thatcher replies that if she has property of her own she will not be molested and this he asks intelligent people to consider as an answer to the demand ile he refers to law of descent to show that the widow in certain cases has provision made tor lor harbut he just as well knows |
