| Show editorials JUDICIAL adjudication OR HOW liow THE comedies enacted in the courts here evolve 1 by their numerous complicated contradictions any number of quandaries people make application to various sources for information to lead them out of the judicial labyrinths into which they have been led by recent antii mormon I 1 developments the oran organ of the crusade published a poser grom from from one of its correspondents yesterday morning we will quote from the communication lif if a polygamous wife Is not a leai legal leal wife as decided by the courts hewis how is she to be legally divorced and and if not a wife before what less would she be getting retting a divorce or how can you put away legally legally that which you are not acknowledged to le legally ally aliv have 0 what then is to be the legal method for the divorce and separation of those who have sustained the relation of husband and wife in plural mar ariage please explain as we are all aeilous anxious to learn the calcium light of the tribune was at once turned on and the following luminous response was the result of course there can be no divorce in such cases because there has been no marriage but there has been a contract entered into and though the law holds that such contract is illegal and contrary to good morals it has given the parties who made the contract a status before the world which only a public renunciation can release them from gener generally ally aily too as between the principals property rights have accrued which on separating require adjusting j where all parties agree to the separation that is the husband the legal wife and the plural wife the proper thing to do is to ask the court that the contract be annulled and mat nat in the decree such disposition of the common property may be entered as shall be just where only one party is determined to break the relation she or he can appeal to have the contract set aside bud but in case of a woman making the a application p she could make no property demand except per perhaps hapst a demand for wages f for or services rendered the correspondent who propound propounded ad the interrogatory will doubtless now let his soul rest in undisturbed repose we will proceed to show why he should he ile is informed that where there has been no marriage there cabbe can be nodi no divorce that is to say that a legal nonentity cannot be legally wiped out it is to be hoped for the sake of the sanity of the Inter interrogator rog ator that he was not previously unaware of that self evident fact the logic of the statement is undoubted undoubtedly adly sound but the necessity ot the cie assertion under the circumstance is scarcely apparent but bat the questioner is f further arther I 1 informed n that there has been a contract entered into and that the law holds that such contract is illegal the question is how is this 14 illegal contract to be dmn dif faced effaced extinguished tin unshed blotted out our of crusading pre predilections directions does up the solution of this krotty knotty question ina in a nutshell it says the proper thing to do is to ask the court that the contract be annulled now is that correspondent satisfied and if not why not he is told that the best method of annulling a null contract is to have it annulled if the seeker seeke rafter after information is una unable bleto to reconcile trifling contradictions he should not apply t the formation ile he is now left to disentangle tan iea lea a couple of synonymous propositions to which opposite solutions are given the one is that an illegal marriage cannot be legally annulled the tile other an illegal marriage contract can be legally annulled the par part ot of the answer in relation to the attitude of the world is no less obfuscated than the legal entanglement presented the proposition is that although the contract is illegal it has given the contractors a statu status s before the world which only a public renunciation can release them from we have waited ion lon long and patiently fora sora for a scintillation ot Tao modesty desty from the tribune the prosecution and the third district court which form a species of fraternal combination judging from the unanimity of their anti 11 mormon sentiments we have waited in vain it is as scarce in those quarters as consistency and than that need be said they have dished up tile the demands ot of rZ inhabitants of our beloved country until they have made their own friends sick they have claimed to voice the demands of this vast multitude of humanity but even this immense concentrated representation loes does toes not satis fly their vaul vaulting baultin tin ambi ta tn it now takes in the world so ho he status obtained in the world by the contracting parti parties es in plural marriages stands a public renunciation of t b relationship and aad how and is this renunciation to be nile uli soar so jar as any authorization of n aw W is concerned it might as well be made by the principals hiring a brass band to attract a crowd and aen then pro laim dalm the separation from the summit jicome building they might adopt the uld id system of sending tho the beaman beuman around or do it by a gou couple pio plo ot of squares lu in the iho columns ol 01 the organ of the crusaders I 1 but no it must be done according to dietr district et attorney Dick sons delineation by judicial adjudication 11 on the bw bub around which watch the world revolves the third judicial district court As there la is not an ota lota of legal authorization for what mr dickson call calls judicial in the cases in question it appears that from lit iii bia bla standpoint and that of the sheet which voices his views it Is not needful that in dealing with mormons cormons Mor mons the courts should be governed by lav law which it is their sworn duty to administer OPPOSED TO humiliating concessions OUR correspondent spartan speaks strongly 7 regarding the only consistent attitude that can be assumed by lat ter day saints who are made the victims of the anti ants thormon extra ju a dacial and extralegal extra le legal al raid the views expressed by the NEWS and his bis on that point are a unit in the language of the poet we want nu no cowards in our band who will their dolors hy fly 11 I 1 A A disposition to shrink from having baving m others mothers and daughters publicly insulted and their feelings lacerated when acting in the capacity of witnesses is however no evidence of colV cowardice ardlee it is another sentiment entirely and ard Is not only pardonable in the guardians of those liable to be subjected to indecent and brutal catechization but also on the part of the victims themselves it is isa a feeling ir far removed from prudery 11 bein being a an 3 evidence of innate delicacy wg which h dwells in tile the heart of every good and modest woman at the same time those who stand ready in the face of the strong natural repugnance b by which they are imbued to suffer thy the e infliction for butys sake indicate a highl degree of moral courage the cowardice exists in those who taking advantage e of the situation perpetrate such gross cross gross as have been exhibited in preliminary examinations ami nations and trials of cases in which I 1 mormons cormons Mor mons I 1 have been parties accused they have been conducted under circumstances which the perpetrators imagined shielded them f from rom an any ans disagreeable consequences that might otherwise have resulted f from rom their conduct doubtless they were right because any resort to violent punishment for the sneers jibes innuendoes and base and disgusting interrogatories to which delicate women have been subjected could scarcely be too strongly deprecated it is to be hoped that no instance of that kind will occur however a aggravated grava ted may be the cause wn we are not in harmony with our correspondent on that point A PERVERTED JUDICIARY THE tan safety and vindication of innocence has been one of the very first objects jec ts su sought to be attained by the wisest legislators and jurists whose labors have tended to bring the science of civil I 1 law to its present state of perfection fec tion from the most remote ages the wicked and unscrupulous have used the law as a means of dest destroying royln or or injuring their victims they could thus accomplish their sinister purposes without risk to themselves in the name of the law robbery extortion oppression the grabill gratification a tion of hatred and the glutting of a cl desire estre for revan revenge e were easy of accomplishment under the imperfect systems of jurisprudence that prevailed up to comparatively recent times this evil 1 has been recognized as one of the greatest that characterizes human governments ern ments and how to make the law a means of enforcing justice and at the same time to render it impossible for the evil disposed to use it as an aa engine of injustice has been one ot the greatest problems of civilization the punishment and restraint of the guilty is admitted to be vitally necessary to the welfare of society but the protection of t the he innocent is by the wisest writers upon the SU subject bj act deemed to be of vastly greater importance even than the meting of justice to the evil doer oer this view more than any other has tended to give f form torm oria orra to the modern system of jurisprudence now prevailing in enlightened states and countries in all of which criminal legislation is bein being more and more mor materially modified in such a manner as as to throw which human wisdom can devise in the way of the conviction and punishment ot an innocent the person system of granland grana arand and petit luries juries prevailing in all the states of the union and borrowed from england with the improvements that have been made in it from time to time is deemed the best means ever yet devised for accomplishing at once the punishment and restraint of the criminal classes and the protection andrin and vindication di of innocent persons 1 who through accident or malice malic e m may y find flaa themselves accused of crime the grand jurgas lury jury as contemplated contemplate dla dia in our system of jurisprudence of today to day Is a body of good and true men as thoroughly representative as ag may be of the community and society in which they dwell and of which they form a part they are supposed to be intelligent sober earnest citizens capable of acting ting with wisdom lua jua tico tice ind and kud bud the tho strictest impartiality with this body rests entirely the quest question loni ioni 1 whether or not a fellow low lov citizen shall ba D placed in jeopardy on a charge of felony it if these good men and true representing and acting in behalf of the soc society and community which as is alleged have suffered wrong aati and indignity through the act of some criminal say that the evidence against the accused Is insufficient to warrant his being placed upon trial he must under the constitution of the united states be permitted to go scot free but if the grand lury jury either through 11 h prejudice inconsiderate haste mang mann manufactured evidence or other unjust means be led to indict the accused he still has the benefit of that great reat ancient and invaluable safeguard c auard of innocence and liberty a trial by a jury of his peers aers twelve men ic icholsen dio sen from froni the district Si strict district in which the alleged ewas committed presumably the neighbors and perhaps the tile friends of the accused men selected from walks of life similar to those these he has followed not his inferiors nor yet his superiors no more nor less than his peers are sworn to listen to the evidence against and for him and to give a verdict according to it As v u last precaution against such a calamity as the punishment of an innocent man the jury must acquit the accused unless the evidence adduced against him in open court has been strong enough to convince hem thern beyond alf all reasonable doubt of his guilt such are the tile provisions established by the fathers of this republic for the protection of innocence and liberty within it they sought to make it impossible for malice to assume the garb of justice and for bigotry hatred cupidity or revenge to make of the law a means forthe for the accomplishment of its ends they died in the belief that they had succeeded but god never committed bothem to them the power to chain satan ile he still works in the hearts of men as effectually as he did in the days of daniel and his methods now are much muan the same as those he made use of then in utah the very corner stones of civilized j jurisprudence prudence have been torn lap up and tile the whole superstructure is in ruins grand juries instead of being comprised of men truly representative of the mass of the community are se lecter from the small minority and must before being sworn as grand jurors declare under oath their repugnance to the religious and social customs of the great majority instead of being the neighbors friends and peers of the defendant the petit jurors who try him are by a thorough and careful process selected from a class who are arc at open avowed enmity with him the judges of the court one of whose main functions in all civilized countries is to exercise a eare lest the innocent be convicted h here ere in utah show an indecent eagerness to aid the prosecution in securing a verdict of guilty and manifest but too plainly a malicious delight in administering the utmost pen penalty ity which the law will allow to be inflicted lct let d and repeatedly have come from the bench beach regrets that the law was not more severe prosecuting prosecution officers who elsewhere are supposed to represent and to labor to preserve the best interests of the bulk of the people in utah have become what the bigoted scribes and pharisees Pharis ees were in the days of the savior the persecutors of a certain class of religious devotees the subordinate officers of the law instead of devoting their enn eff efforts orts to the suppression pres slon sion of actual crime and immorality are spendina spending their time in harassing honorable men innocent and pure IV omen women and peaceful families in s short hort the whole machi machinery Dery of the judiciary in in utah is being utterly perverted instead of ot being used forthe for the protection of society whose basis is the family it is being used to scatter and thus to produce produce social anarchy arch y instead of being used to foster foste and protect property and commercial interests the judiciary is being made the means of destroying business paralyzing commercial enterprises and annihilating values instead of effect effecting inz the redress of grievances it is inflicting the greatest grievances fromI the people er cuffins tead of being honored and respected by the honorable classes of society and feared and hated by the real criminals of the community the latter praise and applaud its labors and its course while the former are compelled to shun shan the very agencies to which in all civilized countries the just and the innocent look first for protection and redress such an perversion of the highest functions 9 government overn ment ii 14 unparalleled in times 1 THE CLASS OP scoundrels IN these columns on various occasions the characters and 1 kinds of dogs that seek seel for opportunities ili ties to turn loose upon the latter day saints have been clearly portrayed some of the vile wretches ebes etes have been sought for and employed la in the contemptible business an illustration in point is in our possession the moss floss brothers notorious desperadoes who committed numerous robberies in sevier Sevi erand and juab counties three of whom being beine now in the penitentiary awaiting awai awal ting tins the action of the grand jury were applicants for the position of informers or spotters in the anti antl mormon I 1 raid in in ai |