Show THE RUDGER CLAWSON CASE MB nir crawso clawso CLAWSON MAKES A BRIEF sree spee SPEECH oil A AD ND IS lectured BY lir till THE COURT SENTENCE PASSED MOTION TO ADMIT BAIL it being centrally cene zene rally raily understood that sentence would be passed upon rudger clawson this morning rooming the federal court room was filled with spectators anxious to witness the proceedings the court was duly opened at 10 31 mr r dickson addressing the court said this was the hour appointed if your honor please for judgment in the case of the united states versus clawson mr nir harkness we know of no r reason al why your honor should not proceed to pass judgment mr bennett I 1 wish to state to your honor that in the matter of moving for a new trial we have af after ter nature consideration and deliberation decided not to make such a motion but to rely upon our bill of exceptions the judge ludge altered his minutes accordingly J ludge lidge zane aane then said mr clawson will you stand up if you please mr clawson thereupon stood up and stepped to the clerks desk jud judge jude e zane then than said you were indicted dietetic diet eTin in this court upon an indictment charging that you have been guilty of polygamy on the days named in the indictment by marny marry marrying inc inz L lydia 11 dia dla spencer flonence while your former wife florence floreuce floreuce florence ann clawson was still living in the second count of that indictment you were charged with unlawfully ully cohabiting ha with two florence ann clawson and lydia spencer to that indictment you entered a plea of not guilty and the tile jury was sworn to try the issue and sud after huarin hearing 1 the evi evl evidence fence and ancl argument of counsel counse 1 found you guilty on both counts of the indictment have you any legal cause to show why judgment should not be pronounced upon you mr clawson your you r honor since the jury that recently sat on my case casenave have seen proper to tind lind a verdict of guilty I 1 have only this to say why judgment should not be pronounced I 1 very much regret that the laws of my country should acme in contact with the laws of god but whenever they do I 1 shall invariably choose the latter if I 1 did not so fco express myself I 1 should feel unworthy of the cause I 1 represent the constitution of th the d united states expressly states that congress shall make no establishment lish ment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof it cannot be denied I 1 think that thab marriage when attended and sanctioned by religious rite antes sand and ceremonies Is an establishment of religion the ladof law of 1862 and th the eEdmunds edmunds lawvere law were expressly designed ta operate against marriage ag aa practiced and believed in by the lat ter day saints they are therefore ull uil constitutional unconstitutional and of course cannot cannot command the respect that a dional law would that insull is uit nit I 1 have to say gay your ur honor this speech delivered with great with t telling effect and in the midst of profound silence seemed to take taker the judge by surprise lie he lay back in his chair and meditated what his As meditations were no man knows for about the space of a minute it seemed a long iong minute ini lul nute nule too ultimately however jud judge p e zane again leaned forward in ih bis lils cha chair ir he was about to say something ile he looked very grave at last he broke ksil slid ence clice and air mr clawson sald said i 1 the constitution of the united states as con construed strad by the supreme court and by the authors of that instrument does not protect any person in the practice of poly polygamy kamy jamy while all men have a right to worship god accor actor according ehg to the dictates of their own and to any ant reile religious lous ious bellef belief that their conscience and anda judgment might reasonably dictate they have not the right to eng engage gaga in a practice the american Americ Jn people through gli the laws of their country declare to be unlawful and injurious to society there have been feen many barbarous and superstitious I 1 peoples various con condition ditlow ot of men and women raith respect to each other oiher and different classes of unions have been recognized amon among them has been promiscuity a union without any definite existence and polyandry I 1 believe so called one wife and many husbands husban qs or more than one husband and polygamy one olle husband and a number of wives vives more than one oue wife and also monogamy one wife one husband this last union has emerged from barbarism and superstition to civilization aud and its the tho institution of mar exists throughout ahe the tha whole thole y civilized world at lt Js is the institution which that infinite source that in main maln alli aili if ests ailt aitt things merethe he here rethe rathe the judge dudge es essayed say to be ba very verv impressive and gawu sawed the air with his right hand has maul feso fest fedas we the existing between man mad and woman in civilized society this thi marriage ele eie elevates Vates gates woman to ad an equality with man plan so far as their different organizations will permit it recognises recognizes the great principle that lies at the foundation of all justice a and nd all equity and equality no just government on earth can stand that lives in viola vlola violation tiou of this great principle of equality upon which all just laws must rest at last here the judge thumped the wilb his hand this tha fumon u rdby elefa eleia elevates tes woman places her upon upun a high plane beside man and in its light lichtl I 1 believe that man and woman will ascend to a glori glorious ous future will climb the hill ot of progress through all time side by side this belief that polygamy I 1 la night right the civilized world recognizes as mere superstition per pei it la Is one ohe of those superstitions which honestly believed in iq in the past has done infinite injury these are reil rell religious glou superstitions whose pathway has been beeh lit with the faggot and red with the blood of innocent people the ai american neriman people through their law laws have hive pronounced polygamy a c crime ri and this court mus must qt execute these flaws laws in fixing this punishment the statute lives gives to the court a wide discretion it provides among other things thata that a person found guilty of polygamy shall bs bo punished by a fine of not more than and be imprison ed cd for a term of not more than lirey firey live years ehrs and f for or th the e crime ed in the second count on which you were f found guilty the statute provides that s v person shall bp be punish punished edby by a fine of not more than W or be imprisoned f more than ilk sik months or by both said sald punishment being iett iott t to the of the court erom from these provision sit siv is appa apparent refit that the great object of the law was to protect the institution of marriage the mari ria xia e wk recognized by bylaw law the marriage eu 0 of i one woman to one man and the 1 U court rt in fixin fixing 1 the punishment must not only take I into nto consideration the consequence of the sentence to you and to your family but to society the great objector object of punishment pun punishment affixed to crimes Is to deter other people from committing like ilke of benges and andio to protect society from evils resulting from the brinle and with that view the court ourt must ft lix the punish punisa ment where it has a discretion the court however looks at the circumstances and where the crime is aggravated the punishment is dually greater knoud should be more seve severe sevene and where there are palliating pallia ting circumstances the punts punishment shoula should be less in your case edde there Is one circumstance probably that should be taken into consideration you have been taught as ag it seems and I 1 presume jt it to go be true byyoure by our ancestors or by those f from roin whom you received religious instruction that polygamy was right and those who taught you are to some extent almost so jo j o blame as you though they cannot be punished because they nava nave ha committed no overt act that of course should be taken into account counti ac but you are an an intelligent man over 30 years of age mr clawson no sir judge zane well weli well weli I 1 lam iam win mistaken as to the testimony on that point what is kl your 0 u r a age ae e mr r C clawson I 1 a w s on 2 27 7 judge zane well velh I 1 1 am mistaken then 27 yon probably between 21 and 25 when the offense offence was committed as charged in the indictment you unquestionably know knew of the existence of this law mr clawson yes sir judal judge e zane and aud understood it and you on de deliberately violated it you violated it also with the understanding as yo you a say that you had a right to do so because there was a higher law abr by which you govern your our conduct that I 1 hat being so it makes tie tte the case somewhat a aggravated rava ted you deliberately violated the law of your country knowing the consequences and the effects and there is another thing to be taken into consideration in this punishment the object being to prevent the crime As you state and as I 1 p presume u in e from the evidence in the case it tes res is S true there is s a large class classi of persons in this territory and probably many in others who claim that it is right to violate his his bis law the object of the law I isto ito to prevent it and it is the duty fluty of the court to so fix the punishment that thai it w will be most likely to prevent other persons from committing like ilke of fences against so society clety the afie institution of marriage is probably ona one of the most important to society t v of any that exists when freelove free love iove or polygamy or any other matr murr marriane magase laze iaze sha shall shail be substituted for the marriage then this great social fabric another wave of the hand band which is protected by law I 1 ow low will probably be crumbling about us chastity virtue and decency will follow with it in my judgement jud gement and that seems to be the ju judgment dament of the american people I 1 and not only of the american people butof but of the whole civilized world be ae cause I 1 believe that poly polygamy amy is not lawf lawful ul in any civilized government on the globe for the purpose of protecting society therefore of protect mg illk th this is institution which is of such great interest and importance toso to society the court must aly the punishment mentho so that it will be likely to pr prevent e its recurrence The court as t the he jaw law provides may ft fox the nine fine abnot at not exceeding in ill the case ot of polygamy iund and imprisonment not exceeding five years I 1 confess that I 1 should have been beep inclined to fix this punishment s smaller in a iler ller than thau I 1 shall were it not for the fact that you openly declare that you believe belleve jt it is right to violate the lawthan law that you believe you are right in doing it SENCE SETEN gence pE I 1 shall therefore nix fix your punishment me nt on the first count for polygamy by bv a fine of and imprisonment for the thie term terin of years and six sh months and on the second count for unlawful cohabitation I 1 will fix yb urline at and your imprisonment at sir six 9 ix months the imprisonment in the last count of ent tobe gInat the termination of the imprisonment on the first count the judgment will wili be entel entered ed by bj the clerk accordingly immediately ay after sentence was passed as above mr lUrk kirkpatrick patrick of the firm of harkness Harkne gs bennett kirkpatrick moved that thab the defendant be admitted boball to ball they were about to appeal on of the court and desired that hat T ending pending that appe appo appeal althe the defendant be c a admitted to ball bail they ready roady to 0 b be e heard beard on that motion mr kirkpatrick then proceeded with his argument arguments no lie dwelt first on the character of the of fence what was the character of the legally considered was or was it a it was an offense offence against the laws of congress there was not in the acts of congress at least lie he had bad seen none any provision classifying of fences into felon felonies and mis misdemeanors denea demea nors at common lava lama bigamy was mits pot a felony not beliza felony it was a misdemeanor the speaker now proceeded to 46 quote authorities thorl thorit ties les on the subject 0 ot admitting the defendant to ball bali this was inthe in the discretion of the court Alltha alitha all ali that was required was sufficient secor tty to so sc cure his appearance to suffer thet the judgment judgments it lf it should be confirmed jn the higher court counsel ridiculed the idea of defendant running away awny to escape justice the term of imprisonment to which he lip had been nten sentenced aten ced was wag too limited travor the jda dea of thet thes defendant making himself a fugitive f 11 from justice I 1 ire ilo f e claimed that hta hla bl client eilent sho fildbe admitted to fall pending the ap appeal peal hl hii i coun counsels clis zealous friends the prosecuting oell ill ili cers evns came hecq hery itaas always the custom to grant gnant bail ball in these cases cass where ah auf a appeal was vai vas pen pending dink dinh and ip ili HO xio instance had the generosity of the court been abused all had appeared in court to receive and to suffer the sen tence tenge that had been inflicted upon them non none had attempted attempt eji to escape air lr dickson replied and said there were reasons wh he b defendant should not be admitted to ball bail as the prosecution alev viewed fd tile the ease base case what the practice of the courts in such cases had been before lf ite lie came here liere he was not prepared to say if it had been beer the practice here herp to admit parties to bail pending an appeal atter utter conviction of felony he h contended that such a practice e was erroneous it wit was wab plain that the party was wag not en titled to uail bail as a matter of right after aften conviction if ithe he was admitted to bail ball a at all ail it would be simply a matter of 0 grace at the discretion cret loff af pf f the court the mour jour I 1 however was wag ested with a egal discretion di but they ther must be circum stances to move the court to trahe the exercise of its discretion if ball bail were given in this case why should it not be given guen in every ease that tuat came calne before the cou court it except iura inra in a case of et murder to grant grint bail bali in this thi case would be to establish abad a bad prece piece danty the court here took recess until two at two sir nir dickson continued fits lits argument and a decision had not been reached before we e went vent to press JUDGE julge zane zany this afternoon refused to admit mr clawson to bali bail ball bail and remitted him to the custody of the marshal |