Show nin din CASE THE THREE indictments CONSID nned ened As there is much comment on the course of the prosecuting officers and of the judge ot of the third district court in regard tot to the he dividing up of th the three ethree years in cohabitation cases and as one of the cases that of herbert berdj J foulger is now being introduced probably to test the thing it may be timely to write a few lines on the subject The manner in which the three indictments against mr foulger read would convey to the general mind that that gentleman had committed three distinct violations of the hid rid munds law either by assuming the relation with three different ladies or having ceased for a period on promise to the court or otherwise had again resumed his bis former unlawful statue and thus committed two or more misdemeanors under bader the statute sta this however is not the case neither is it the intention of the officers to so prove or attempt to prove the crime of cohabitation tinder under the ruling of the court is necessarily a continuous one to live in the habit and repute of marriam marriage requires more than a brief per loTof living together rulings by leading judges lu in the east upon the subie ct directly favoring this view are available to the officers if they are willing to read and be governed by them to use the pungent language of a prominent non nou mormon mordou Mor Alor mon mou lawyer gio one gione OXE NE SWALLOW 81 DONOT DONT MAKE A su SUMMER NImER his honor judge zane having haying ruled that corabi cohabitation under this act does not ot involve sexual intercourse and he having ging discharged a prisoner who had seduced and committed two sexual acts with his own cifes sister be cause sexual ins sins are not held to be corrected by this law the crimes and indictments cannot be counted and multiplied by simply extending a continuous and unbroken period of civill li living vill in it this unlawful in marni marri arriage ace aae relation if the sexual act were the crime and it was so ruled by the courts then each act could be punished and a separate indictment would be legal with sep arat eriah and renewed punishments but if the crime be a continuous livin living 9 together with two women and the accused has never discontinued and re fumed the relation liow HOW CAN HE lie BE BY LOGICALLY AND reasonably PUNISHED for three throne or more offenses the law does not state any period as being the essence of the crime it does not say if it a man roan shall cohabit one week or one month or one year or three years but if it any male person ilore litre hereafter after cohabits with more than one woman he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor no limit as will be seen to the period of that cohabitation being given tile the mere fact that he has continued in tuis relation three years before he is discovered and prosecuted certainly ought not to entitle the officers to punish him for every day week month or year which their failure to prosecute has hag permitted and encouraged whose fault is it that mr for instance ns tance has not been prosecuted be fore ore if guilty at all could he not have been prosecuted as soon as the fact became known to the officers that be he was living in the habit and Te repute of marriage with more than one woman it is sometimes asked by way of argument if a man seduces one woman and then seduces another has he not committed the crime certainly and t his thala is admitted so if a man mau marries two plural wives he COMMITS rOLY poly polygamy GAMY TWICE but this is another affair altogether mr foulger is not accused of lug his family relations or even 01 ol living witti with three different women ile ilu is ig simply accused of living with mrs foulger and one other lady as his wives and is indicted for this one continuous act three separate times t it is not stated slated what no tie was doing between gween the tuo periods named in be the indictments are arc we to luter later that ho h ceased these relations lons ions during the interim on a sort gort of spasmodic repentance and then fell into error erro ragain again or did dirt be he maintain the tha rc lation relation with these two ladies continuously I 1 during the entire three years and Is he not also guilty for the interim between the indictments and if so is it not a gross neglect of duty for officers to overlook the interim and allow it to agn unpunished if no special period Is necessary more than one day as judge powers lias ruled ml might hit lit there not he a day or at leas least t a night lost with its accompanying six three now if a man steals a calf under our statutes he is guilty ot of grand larceny and liable to a penalty of ten years imprisonment if he is not arrested for three years should he be indicted once for every year hn he ha has bas 9 k kept ep t t that at calf would not the prosecuting 0 s e u tip officers be makin making themselves L I 1 v e ridiculous if they were to do moret more than hanto lo 10 indict and try the thief once and that for stealing the cail cali they certainly would not attempt to visit upon his head a penalty for their neglect or lack of skill in not catching him before hiding is not a crime I 1 NO MAX MAN IS EXPECTED TO CRIMINATE HIMSELF the law does docs not make it criminal to k keep cep tep the thy ca calf calt f feed and care for it till the officers armed with the law tear it from hi his 1 possession 1 0 s assion and send the thle thief to the SP penitentiary 1 1 tertiary tent iary lary in fact if the crime were not detected for four yea years rs the law would bar the prosecution and the time be he had bad kept the c calf a 1 f would promote his preservation from punishment thus a man who has committed a well known and heinous crime could escape a penalty of ten years imprisonment in bythe by the very means mean staken taken advantage of in mr Foul gers case to triple his offense and con consequent sequent punishment ish ment with all due respect to the judges and the off meers officers ano prosecute and ad j I 1 do respect them as the representatives of ofir great government I 1 must differ with them in this matter notwithstanding the rulings of the court hitherto ahey may be reversed and certainly should be if for nothing else for the sake of public poll poil policy cy such rungs rulings take the form of law till reversed however and may do much injustice before a final decision is reached hence it devolves on juries to act with wisdom and let their consciences guide them when sitting in judgment in such cases I 1 ioanno canno believe that all the non uon here are wicked and cruel many are friends to the race and while themselves prejudiced against polygamy they would scorn to lil ill treat any man or do bim him an injustice and I 1 feel fuel cont conf confident ident while the cold technicality of law as established by a ruling may exact obedience for the tile time that as NOTHING IS 18 LAW IN FACT UNLESS IT IS REASON the conscience of the people who are called to sit as trial jurors will preserve them from encouraging spiteful exhibitions hibit ions of cruelty and malice another thing thin should be considered in mr Foul gers case the ruling which permits the three indictments is of such date that it takes the doyin form of an ex post facto law in its retroactive character it was certainly foret foreign ii to the mind of any ordinary person whatever it may have been to such learned lawyers as grace the bench and the bar that such a construction could ever be given to the edmunds law and it is time enough to begin to punish men when they break a law anat griat is published and declared the constitution ution protects the worst of criminals from punishments not nut specified in the law at the time of the commission of the crime if and unheard of rulings are al lowed to have a retroactive effect who will be safe suppose a ruling should declare that the ioe ipe inere revisit visit of a gentleman to a house of ill fame under the common law was equivalent to mar marriage ariae g with one of or more of its inmates how bow many apparently MODEST YOUNG mes MEN would be found to be poly polygamists amista on examination and trial where where would it end true they may have no present fears from the powers that be but times are out of joint and a new daniel may come corne to judgment whose e rulings might embarrass some who now feel secure hence the necessity of impartial justice bearing in mind that there is such a thing as retribution and while the mills of the gods grind slowly they grind exceeding line COMMON SENSE |