| Show inexcusable AND FLIMSY falsification AMONG the slanders circulated by the conspirators who have hava worked so assiduously to obliterate popular rule in utah has been that the church has taught its adherents that ittis no sin to lie the reason for sending this false fabe hood abroad has been the common one of creating an outside effect against the mormons cormons Mor mons under cover of which the schemers could carry out their beligio politico designs with impunity the prejudice of the country being enlisted on their side against their proposed victims to substantiate their position in reference to the falsehood they palmed off upon the public abroad regarding the Saints the statements of witnesses in cases of unlawful cohabitation etc where mormons cormons Mor mons were the defendants defendant wre swore cited the evidence when it happened napp happ eced to favor the defens ewas characterized as false and perjured no matter who the victims victim might be whether adlo tender women or innocent children childre n they were characterized as liars wh who 0 were taught by the church to falsify such shameful abuse of witnesses coupled with such base baseless less charges against a religious organization the essence ot of whose teachings is truth have probably never been equalled equal led since the days when the cormer dav saints were persecuted legally and otherwise if it be granted that a few persons person 8 may inay have departed in some degree from the strict line of truth in the ho hope e of defending some loved relative ang and saving him f from rom incarceration in a foul prison such instances are individual affairs and would be but a drop in the bucket compared to the whole our position in this regard can be demonstrated beyond the reach of successful contradiction with few exceptions convictions have been found by the packed juries in all polygamy and unlawful cohabitation cases since the beginning of the anti I 1 raid under the edmunds act inaugurated in october 1884 without any reference to those in arizona and idaho those who have been tried and imprisoned to date number sixty seven of these forty two entered the plea of not guilty but only twenty had a regular trial the balance twenty two having no prospect of an acquittal went upon the stand themselves acknowledged having lived with their wives and gave all the testimony necessary to a conviction the remaining in twenty five had no trial in any shape as they plead guilty to the indictment the twenty of those who plead 9 not guilty and had regular trials for the most part assumed that position not merely to take advant advantage age of every legal probability within reach to insure an acquittal but also that the various various points eints of law involved might for the benefit benefit of others as well as themselves be f fully ally and fairly tested in the higher courts consequently a number of cases were appe appealed alid to tho those se who took that course the community are indebted their attitude under legal accusation not only being a private privat dut but also a public necessity but etwas alone among those twenty cases where any opportunity could be found for making maing the base and slanderous a accusations s that have been laid by a vile local press against individuals and in the same connection the church of jesus christ of latter day saints whose foundation and superstructure is truth in the first place individuals were accused of testifying testifying falsely when their evidence did not al aid the prosecution then the odium of the alleged false evidence was laid upon the church villainous lv accused of teaching q that it was no sin to lie when the safety of a church member or interest was at stake then it maybe may be asked who taught the twenty two who testified against themselves rather than have the members ot of their families dragged into court and insulted by browbeating brow beating unscrupulous and unrefined prosecute ing attorneys and judges was pt it the church who was it that instructed those who plead guilty twenty five in number was it the church taking the raid clear through from beginning to end as a whole looking at its cruel and unjustifiable j character it will be found that the closeness and fidelity with which its victims have clung to truth in every aspect under the most trying circumstances has but few parallels in history hib tory there is no more truthful community to be found than the latter day saints the vile aspersions of gaeir enemies and defamers def amers to the contrary notwithstanding it is their false accusers who hide themselves behind the refuge of lies A an instance of the kind of perfidy in question is now under our eye in the form form of a dispatch sent from this city it is dated the ath just and appears in the san francisco chronicle an extract is herewith presented deputy ty marshals franks smith C cuddihe addi e and vandercook raided mill creek ward early this morning and arrested george bailey james hansen Ransen and andrew jensen tor for unlawful cohabitation they subpoenaed the wives of the accused as witnesses except mrs jensen number two who clat claimed e to be unable to get out of bed having a babe two weeks old on the disappearance of the deput deputies ties she took her child and lit out f for or the hills and could not thereafter be found the accused were all taken before commissioner mckay today to day and after much crooked swearing ug the usual revelations of women having c hildren children without any one knowing of their marriage or who the fathers were came out nothing could be more false than the statement about crooked swearing and the usual revelations of women having children without any one knowing of their marriage or wao ano the fathers were 91 there was absolutely no such buell testimony in any of the cases named the dispatch sender being a wilful al slanderer a arson person without a spark of honor in his it composition lie he Is a disgrace to human kind and we look pitifully litif ally upon a man who will lend himself to such unmitigated baseness which has been constantly carried on here by the class to which he belongs |
