Show MORE JUDICIAL JUGGLERY THE mae case of elder henry W Nals naisbitt bitt which was tried in the third district court on friday is one more of those judicial outrages against which the latter day saints have good reasons reason to complain the testimony all went to show that the defendant had not committed the offense with which he was charged namely unlawful cohabitation summed proved that though lie he had three living wives he had only cohabited with one of them during the past three years this was clear positive and direct the witnesses were all for the prosecution rose cation none were called for the krease defense there was no need of any the testimony brought against tile the accused was all in his favor the case was submitted without argument passing by the legal infamy of compelling e in t the e wife whom the court adjudged adge the legal wife of the defendant to 0 o testify against her husband let us look at the evidence on which he was convicted he had beyond doubt lived with only one wife during the time mentioned in the indictment but the legal wife testified that although he had not treated her as a wife except to furnish her support he had bad at her request once looked at the new house she was building and when her last bab was born which was within the tr time line of the indictment he was present by request this constituted nis his entire acts in relation to her that were counted on as cohabitation As a matter of fact aring the past three years he had not cohabited with her at all they had separated and were not even friendly because of a disagreement but bat the Prose prosecuting attorney demanded that the court should instruct the jury to the effect that if the defendant cohabited with one wife and visited the legal wife he was guilty of cohabiting with more than one woman the court always ready to do the bidding bidding of the prosecuting officer when a 11 mormon HOrmon is on trial charged the jury that if t the defendant recognized and supported his lawful wife and visited her but once that was cohabitation and if during that time he lived with one of his other wives that constituted cohabitation the jury had no other course to pursue if they followed the directions of the court as to the law than to bring in a verdict of guilty for the facts shown were that the defendant had lived with one wife and had once visited another the jury then are not to be bla blam editor the verdict but the prosecuting attorney and the judge for their ridiculous rendering of the law this is another twist given to the flexible and chameleon like third section of the edmunds act how many more distortions it is capable of can 0 only r affe be determined by the number of d differing i ri ng cases that may come bafo before re the co courts urtis conviction of mormons cormons Mor mons ho have married plural wives is the nd in view if they cannot be prosecuted for polygamy because of the statute of limitations this law against unlawful cohabitation is made to do duty whether therit it really applies to them or not it matters not now carefully a man who has plural wives may live within the letter and spirit of the edmunds law if he is marked down lor for punishment that law is wrested and strained and construed so as to reach him this proves two things first that it is useless for a mormon who has ever married plural wives ives who are living to try to obey the act of march 2 1882 for the man who cohabits with his wives to the full extent and meaning of the term fares no worse than he who honestly tries to observe the law in every respect the man who places his religion and what he conceives to be his duty to his wives and to his god before all other things 1 meets worse late fate than he who w 0 without repudiating his religion and ana his families puts the law of man first and orders his life by its demands second that those who are enforcing the law with such vicious severity do not want the people whom they are persecuting to conform to the act of congress if they did when it is made clear that a man has been keeping it with evident purpose to avoid its violation they would refrain from stretching its meaning beyond the bounds of common sense in order to entrap him nor would they impose the same penalty upon one who has abstained from living with his wives as upon another who has made no effort to obey the law it is to be hoped that the supreme court of the united states will in its ruling upon the snow caise place some definite construction upon the ever changing term ilan unlawful cohabitation so that people may know what they may or may not do legally and not be placed in the UD unsatisfactory satisfactory position occupied b by brother naisbitt in having kept t the hy law as he understood its meaning and then being made a victim to its penalties exactly as if he had bad wilfully and openly broken and defied it attorney dickson as the inventor and jud judge go zane as his echo may justly claim the honor of giving several new interpretations to well known words worda in the engligh language and to be the champion of the modern judicial stage when they have given a meaning to tile the terms which the bar look upon as settled though peculiar another case suggests a new construction and presto change it comes forth to the astonishment ot of all beholders A I 1 mormon can be made guilty of cohabitation with two women when he only cohabits with one and of unlawful cohabitation when he cohabits with nobody broad farce and deep tragedy are combined in the acts of the courts and the general effect is the most profound contempt for all who are en ed gagged in the dishonest juggling an and d diabolical business |